Grassley talks shutdown, farmers

During Monday’s Capitol Hill Report, Senator Chuck Grassley shared with the CNA his thoughts on the government shutdown and bailouts for farmers among other national topics.

Two days before the federal government officially shut down due to the U.S. Senate’s inability to pass the budget bill, Grassley set the blame on Senate Democrats.

“We would like to pass what’s called a clean continual resolution, and we are not snubbing the Democrats’ interest in having some issues negotiated, but for right now, we would like to do those negotiations between now and Nov. 21 when we think we can have all the appropriation bills done,” Grassley said. “The issue is, to have a clean [continual resolution] for Republicans, Democrats want to negotiate those things right now.”

Democrats are demanding funding for health care subsidies that are expiring for millions of people under the Affordable Care Act, causing the insurance premiums to spike nationwide. Republicans say they want to resolve the health care issues but will not negotiate until the government opens.

In order to end the government shutdown, one or both sides will have to agree to a compromise to fund the departments and agencies that have been shut down.

“It costs money to shut the government down; it costs money to open up the government,” Grassley said. “Government is supposed to be a service to the American people, and you can’t serve the American people if the government’s not open. It’s just a ridiculous situation to be in.”

Creston residents won’t see much difference in terms of local services. The Medicare and Medicaid health care programs are expected to continue, though staffing shortages could mean delays for some services. Postal services and the Social Security benefits will continue.

However, President Donald Trump has warned that the administration could focus on programs that are important to Democrats, “cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”

Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed, with some potentially fired by Trump’s Republican administration. Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as Trump vows to “do things that are irreversible” to punish Democrats. His deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead, while education, environmental and other services sputter. The economic fallout is expected to ripple nationwide.

Tariffs and agriculture

While the government is working with the finances surrounding a government shutdown, farmers around the country are starting to look at their own financial situations as harvest begins.

Grassley said that while there was no package put together yet for farmers, it was being talked about.

“It’s all being talked about in the executive branch and it would be involved with the Department of Agriculture,” Grassley said. “I think they have a problem coming up with the exact amount of money.”

The main idea is to use money from tariffs to support farmers nationwide. Trump spoke on this Sept. 25 in the Oval Office, telling reporters‚ ‘we’re going to make sure that our farmers are in great shape because we’re taking in a lot of money.’”

This would need to be authorized by Congress, with possible cash rollouts beginning in early 2026.

This isn’t the first time Trump has used federal money to compensate farmers. However, in his last term, it came from a different source.

“In 2019, the last time China didn’t buy soybeans from us, the president took money from the commodity credit corporation to supplement farmers’ lack of income from low grain prices and the inability to export to China,” Grassley said.

Immigration and visas

As immigration issues take center stage in various Iowa towns, Grassley put his full support in immigration enforcement agencies.

“Obviously, we expect [them] to enforce the law, and we expect people that have violated the law to be apprehended and deported because they entered our country illegally,” Grassley said. “Beyond that, there’s issues dealing with the president putting $100,000 fee on H-1B people coming to this country.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the H-1B visa program allows employers to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations, such as in the medical or engineering fields. This is for temporary employment in the U.S. and can only be authorized if a business is unable to find the needed personnel from U.S. citizens.

On Sept. 19, Trump issued a proclamation restricting the issuance of H-1B visas unless the petition is accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000.

“I don’t know the wisdom of the president doing that,” Grassley said. “He says that if you have that sort of fee, the companies are going to seek out the brightest people to help our industry. I’m not sure I buy that argument.”

Later in the day Monday, Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, reintroduced legislation to reform the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The L-1 visa pertains to transferring an executive or manager of a U.S. company from one country to the U.S. This was originally introduced to the Senate in 2007.

“[The goal is] to make sure we put a priority on only giving H1-B visas after we know that there aren’t enough workers in the United States, and we’ve always fought industry on that,” Grassley said. “We never passed the Grassley-Durbin bill, but we’ll be introducing it into this new congress today and hope we can get business support. It’s even possible, if we bring enough integrity to the program, that we can even increase the number of H1-B people coming to the United States.”

Original cosponsors for the bill include senators Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont.

Other hot topics

In a bid to force the release of the Epstein files, on Sept. 10 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced an amendment to the defense policy bill requiring the Justice Department release the files. The amendment was voted down 51-49, with all but two Republicans voting against the amendment.

Grassley said he supports the release of the files, but voted against the amendment because he doesn’t think it belongs on the defense bill.

“The defense bill is usually very bipartisan and Schumer’s effort to get the Epstein files public on a defense bill was strictly a political move that was unjustified at the time,” Grassley said.

Moving to foreign affairs, President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week do discuss a peace plan for Gaza. While information on the plan was not yet released during the Capitol Hill Report, Grassley said he supported any plan that protected the Israeli people.

“I hope that the United States does not try to influence Netanyahu’s effort to destroy Hamas and turn Gaza into a safe place for people to live and not a challenge to the safety of Israelis right close by,” Grassley said. “I think that the attack on Israel was one of the most unjustified attacks that could exist and Israel has the right to defend itself, and we should respect the right of Israel to defend itself.”

AP contributed to the government shutdown portion of this article.