Grassley
Direct
I
spoke
with Brian
Fancher
of
KLMJ
Radio
in
Hampton
and
Maureen
Olsen
of
the
Neola
Gazette
about
transparency
in
our
judicial
process
and
cameras
in
the
courtroom,
the
Supreme
Court
nomination
process,
protecting
whistleblowers
and
the
chemical
weapons
attacks
in
Syria.
Q&A:
Campus
Sexual
Assault
Q.
Why
are
you
leading
a
bipartisan
effort
to
reform
the
way
colleges
and
universities
address
sexual
assaults
on
their
campuses?
Q.
How
will
your
proposed
legislation
help
solve
the
problem
of
sexual
violence
on
college
campuses?
Quick
Links
We
can
now
call
him
Justice
Gorsuch.
On
Friday
a
bipartisan
majority
of
senators
voted
to
confirm
Judge
Neil
M.
Gorsuch
to
be
an
Associate
Justice
of
the
Supreme
Court.
This
brilliant,
honest,
humble
man
is
a
judge's
judge.
And
I'm
confident
he
will
make
a
superb
Justice.
I
spoke
and
answered
a
few
questions
at
a
press
conference
following
the
confirmation
vote.
I
signed
a
letter
to
President
Trump,
alongside
38
of
my
colleagues
from
both
sides
of
the
aisle,
urging
him
to
prioritize
reopening
China's
market
to
American
beef
when
he
met
with
China's
president
this
week.
With
such
low
commodity
prices
and
a
slow
farm
economy,
the
impact
of
trade
on
U.S.
farmers
and
ranchers
is
significant.
I
introduced
a
bill
to
permanently
extend
key
Medicare
rural
hospital
programs.
These
programs
bring
a
lot
of
value
for
rural
residents
and
taxpayers
and
are
critical
to
the
service
provided
at
hospitals
in
Keokuk,
Newton,
Spencer,
Fort
Madison
and
Spirit
Lake.
We
should
extend
these
programs
that
help
keep
the
doors
open
for
rural
Medicare
beneficiaries.
Senator
Ernst
and
I
led
a
bipartisan
letter
to
Secretary
of
Defense
James
Mattis
calling
for
a
long-overdue
clean
audit
of
the
Defense
Department.
That
department
is
the
only
one
that
has
not
complied
with
this
mandatory
type
of
audit.
The
inability
to
account
for
expenditures
does
a
disservice
to
the
American
taxpayer
and
threatens
our
national
security.
In
2011
the
DEA
refused
to
notify
other
law
enforcement
agencies
or
detain
a
known
gun
trafficker
who
later
would
be
linked
to
the
firearm
used
in
the
deadly
ambush
of
two
American
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement
agents. The
DEA’s
failure
to
properly
share
information
that
could
have
helped
prevent
this
tragedy
was
revealed
in
a
recent
report
that
I
requested
years
ago,
following
the
botched
Operation
Fast
and
Furious,
which
left
an
American
border
agent
dead.
This
week,
I
demanded
answers
from
the
DEA
administrator
on
why
this
happened
and
why
the
DEA
has
resisted
policy
changes
that
could
have
prevented
this
tragedy.
Over
the
last
several
decades
we've
seen
the
meat
industry
continue
to
concentrate
and
vertically
integrate.
Both
the
poultry
and
pork
industries
are
consolidated,
and
now
the
cattle
industry
is
headed
in
the
same
direction.
Independent
producers
need
the
cash
market
to
function
properly.
So
this
week
I
reintroduced
my
legislation
to
ban
packer
ownership
of
livestock
to
help
the
marketplace
deliver
a
fair
market
price
to
farmers.
Post
of
the
Week
|