(Le Mars) — More than 40 people attended a town hall meeting with U-S Senator Chuck Grassley held this morning at Floyd Valley Healthcare. The Republican Senator answered questions dealing with trade with China and the proposed additional tariffs, gun control following the latest mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, and the federal death penalty. Grassley was also asked about the waivers the Environmental Protection Agency has given oil companies to not blend ethanol as part of the Renewable Fuels Standard. Grassley also addressed questions
relating to healthcare and specifically Medicare. Grassley, who has spent more than 36 years in the U-S Senate, was also asked the question if term limits should be imposed on all elected officials. Following the town hall meeting, Grassley spoke with KLEM news and says the real problem with the nation’s mass shootings may lie with mental health. He was asked what, if
anything, Congress can do to help curtail the shootings.
Beginning September 1st, President Trump has proposed implementing an additional ten percent tariffs on all Chinese goods. Grassley says he is not necessarily in favor of additional tariffs. However, he says no other president before Trump has directly dealt with the Chinese unfair trade practices. Grassley says the imposed additional tariffs will hurt the U-S
consumer.
Grassley says China and the United States makes up a large portion of the world’s economy, and he says a trade deal would not only help Americans and the Chinese, but it would benefit the entire world economy.
America’s agriculture depends heavily on China purchasing U-S agricultural products, and yet with the tariffs, the Chinese have retaliated by imposing its own tariff on U-S agricultural commodities and goods. Farmers, by in large, have supported Trump, and Grassley tells what he is hearing from
farmers caught in the middle of the trade dispute with China.
Grassley says he hopes a trade agreement with China will occur soon, but he doesn’t have any idea as to when an agreement will be reached. Grassley’s Le Mars town hall meeting is part of his annual Iowa 99-county tour.
