Senator Charles Grassley at Westside Conservative Breakfast

Two standing ovations from 100 + people was an early Thanksgiving thank you to Senator Charles Grassley when he spoke Wednesday at the Westside Conservative Breakfast in Des Moines. Grassley opened his remarks by highlighting his time over the years spent traveling and listening to constituents which he tallied up to 2,871 town hall meetings.

Senator Grassley quickly opened up his time for questions and for comments. Numerous questions and comments related to the Health Care Bill – all 2054 pages of it. Grassley shared that seven weeks were spent debating No Child Left Behind and five weeks on the energy bill with neither of these issues as sweeping as the Health Care Bill. Grassley’s opinion is that there needs to be much more time on the bill with “full and open discussion”. A comment from the audience suggested that the bill be ‘slapped down and go back to the drawing board.’ That sounded good to me!

A question was asked if those in Washington D.C. understood what was going on outside of D.C. Grassley answered that D.C. was an “island surrounded by reality.” I took it that D.C. dwellers are not about reality, with many not wanting to get out with the grassroots. Grassley said that town hall meetings, letters, and polls are “making a significant difference.”

Numerous questions and comments related to Cap and Trade which Grassley called “Cap and Tax”. Senator Grassley said that the Senate bill is worse than the House bill. He believes the bill will have a hard time passing if it does come up this year.

As a grassroots voter what I found to be an interesting question was what kind of communication Senator Grassley found most influential. He responded that he is receiving more mail than ever before and is 14,000 letters behind with his correspondence. Phone calls, personal letters or E-mails are all important to Grassley as well as names on petitions. Grassley could only speak for himself, not other Senators. As he answered the question I was recalling a friend who shared with me that she had called Grassley’s office and was asked to give her name and address but when she called Senator Harkin the person on the other end of the phone hung up on her. Seems to be a huge difference on the importance of hearing from Iowans!

Someone thanked Senator Grassley for coming to Iowa instead of going to Obama’s State Dinner. But alas, he was not invited this time. Perhaps that is where Senator Harkin was last night. I really don’t know but so far I have not read or heard about Tom Harkin showing up in the state where he says he lives.

Ending my post on a thankful note, it was my pleasure to join in the two standing ovations for Senator Grassley and to be a part of the appreciation for his efforts on behalf of Iowans.