SPENCER, IOWA (August 27, 2019) — Senator Charles "Chuck" Grassley today held his 99th county meeting for the 39th consecutive year as part of his annual 99 county meetings with an hour-long town meeting at the Spencer City Hall.
With this meeting, Sen Grassley marks the conclusion of another year in his 39-year practice of holding at least one question-and-answer session with Iowans in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties at least once annually. Sen Grassley has done so every year since he was first elected to serve in the US Senate in 1980. The hallmark of his meetings are the open-topic question-and-answer sessions where Sen Grassley invites and responds to questions and comments on any subject. Sen Grassley’s efforts to go to Iowans where they work, study, and live sets a standard for representative government. Sen Grassley also makes himself available for 15 minutes after each meeting to answer questions from local news media.
“Representative government is a two-way street. I’m one half of the process and the people of Iowa are the other half. You can’t have representative government without dialogue between elected officials and the people we represent. I’ve made it my practice to go to the people of Iowa in a variety of settings throughout the day for questions and answers. I appreciate the opportunity to hold these meetings, answer questions and listen to comments on any subject from Iowans. The cross-section of people I get to meet with during town meetings and in their workplaces, offices, and factory floors, in schools and at service organizations, helps me keep in touch and take the common sense of Iowans from all perspectives to work in the nation’s capital,” Sen Grassley said.
Topics frequently raised at this year’s meetings included prescription drug pricing, immigration, congressional oversight and investigations, disaster aid, rural broadband, the Second Amendment, the national debt, the 2018 Farm Bill, the Renewable Fuel Standard, international trade, and federal regulations.
Sen Grassley will continue holding Q&As with Iowans for the rest of the year as the Senate voting schedule allows. Sen Grassley kicked off this year’s meetings in Worth County with a town meeting at the Manly City Hall on January 22.
To view Sen Grassley’s photos and tweets from the meetings, search #99CountyMeetings on Twitter and Instagram.
