24
Oct
2011
Here is information about Senator Grassley's schedule this week in Washington. The Senate is in session.
- Senator Grassley will meet during the week with Iowans from Stonehill Franciscan Services, Quakerdale, the Iowa Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the March of Dimes.
- Senator Grassley will meet during the week with Iowa families visiting Washington from Red Oak, Dubuque and Des Moines.
- Senator Grassley will be a guest during the week on public affairs programs on KDTH Radio in Dubuque with Cindy Kohlmann, KASI Radio in Ames with Trent Rice, KSCJ Radio in Sioux City with Sam Clovis, KCPS in Burlington with Fred Hoffman, and WMT Radio in Cedar Rapids with Ryan Schlader.
- On Monday, October 17, at 4 p.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will meet with Michael Horowitz, the President's nominee to serve as Inspector General for the Department of Justice. Grassley has worked for many years to strengthen the role of Inspectors General in overseeing the federal bureaucracy. He also has worked to hold Inspectors General accountable when the responsibilities of the office haven't been carried out in an independent or effective way.
- On Tuesday, October 18, at 8 a.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will speak to a meeting of Judicial Watch, a non-profit foundation that promotes transparency and accountability in government.
- On Tuesday, October 18, at 10 a.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will testify at a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. The hearing has been called to review the 2011 floods and the condition of the nation's flood-control systems. In addition, Grassley is meeting in his office that afternoon, at 4:45 p.m. (ET), with Brigadier General John McMahon, who is in charge of the Northwest Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that handles the portion of the Missouri River in Iowa. Grassley said he wants to talk with McMahon about when the Corps plans to evacuate water being held upstream in order to make room for next year's runoff, while also allowing time this year for evaluation and repair of dams and water-logged levees downstream.
- On Tuesday, October 18, at 10 a.m. (ET), the Senate Committee on Finance is holding a hearing about tax incentives for charitable giving in anticipation of a tax-reform debate. Senator Grassley will participate in this hearing. As both Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate's tax policy committee during the last decade, Grassley led an active review of the tax-exempt laws, including oversight of the non-profit sector.
- On Tuesday, October 18, at 12 noon, Senator Grassley will participate in an Honor Flight gathering of 92 World War II veterans from Iowa. Seventy-nine of these veterans are from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Five are from Tama County, six are from Anamosa, and two are from Benton County. The Honor Flight Network was created to help veterans visit their memorial in Washington, D.C. The program is currently focused on World War II survivors and other veterans with terminal illnesses. The non-profit program plans to transition to honoring veterans of the Korean, Vietnam and other wars on a chronological basis.
- On Wednesday, October 19, at 9:30 a.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will meet with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, regarding bipartisan legislation Grassley is advancing to prohibit brand-name and generic drug makers from making agreements to keep cheaper generic prescription drugs off the market. These pay-off agreements cost consumers as much as $3.5 billion every year in higher drug costs, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The agreements cost the U.S. Treasury another $2.6 billion because of prescription drug coverage under Medicare and Medicaid, according to information from the Congressional Budget Office.
- On Wednesday, October 19, at 10 a.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will participate in a hearing of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Ranking Member. The hearing will focus on oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary Janet Napolitano will testify.
- On Wednesday, October 19, at 2:30 p.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will participate in a hearing of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control, where he serves as Co-Chair. The hearing will focus on opportunities for increased U.S. counternarcotics cooperation with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. Drug traffickers' increased use of submarines to transport cocaine from the Andean region to the United States will be discussed, along with efforts to reduce narcotics-related violence in Colombia.
- On Wednesday, October 19, at 2:30 p.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will participate in a hearing of the Judiciary Committee to consider the nomination of Michael Horowitz to be Inspector General for the Department of Justice, and Susie Morgan to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
- On Thursday, October 20, at 10 a.m. (ET), Senator Grassley will participate in the weekly business meeting of the Judiciary Committee. These nominations are on the committee calendar for possible consideration: Stephanie Dawn Thacker, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit; Michael Walter Fitzgerald, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California; Ronnie Abrams, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York; Rudolph Contreras, to be United States District Judge for the District of Columbia; and Miranda Du, to be United States District Judge for the District of Nevada. Additionally, the committee may consider the Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act, S.75, sponsored by Senators Kohl, Feinstein, Durbin, Whitehouse, Klobuchar, Franken and Schumer.
On Saturday, October 22, Senator Grassley will be in Des Moines to participate in the Komen Iowa Race for the Cure. Mrs. Barbara Grassley is a 23-year breast cancer survivor.
