(Washington) — Republican U-S Senator Chuck Grassley is in a position where the hot political spotlight is shining bright on him, and his committee. Grassley is the chairman of the Senate Judicial Committee, and that means many of President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for the cabinet must go before his committee, and then be voted on by the entire Senate before being confirmed and taking office. We began the interview by asking if his colleague, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions would be
confirmed as the next U-S Attorney General.
Grassley says the entire process may take a few weeks to complete.
The Iowa Senator says he doesn’t believe any of the nominees for cabinet positions will be turned down. However, he does believe a couple of the cabinet nominees may have a difficult time.
When it comes to cabinet confirmation, Grassley can only recall one time during his 36 years of a political service that a cabinet nominee did not get approval from the Senate. That was Senator John Tower of Texas who was denied being the Secretary
of Defense under President George H. Bush’s administration. The organization of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement is urging Grassley to cease the hearings on Sessions, saying the Attorney General nominee has a radical agenda of voter
suppression and attacks on immigrants, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.
The I.C.C.I says Sessions opposition to civil rights and racist behavior disqualified him from becoming a federal judge in 1986, and the same is true
today”. Grassley adamantly opposes the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement characterization of Sessions.
Grassley says, if Sessions upholds the law and enforces the law, and he says he will do that, then even the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement “wouldn’t have a
beef”. The U-S Senator believes Trump will name his nominee for the Supreme Court within two weeks after taking office, however, Grassley admits it may be Easter before a vote will be taken by the entire Senate.
The one cabinet position that remains a mystery is the Secretary of Agriculture. Grassley says he has heard of numerous names mentioned, but his suggestion would be Iowa’s own Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey. Grassley even commented on
the social media advocating Northey.
The only farmer in the U-S Senate, Grassley offers his reasons why he would like to see Bill Northey as the Top U-S agriculture official.
Finally, with our conversation with Senator Grassley, we asked if he thought Hinton resident, former State Treasurer candidate, and political advocate for President-elect Donald Trump, Sam Clovis, would be working in the West Wing after
Trump takes office.
