Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa last month asked a White House official to account for the contradiction between a White House blog post and statements from the Secretary of the Treasury and other officials about the relationship of the Small Business Lending Fund, or SBLF, to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.  Today, the Treasury Department responded.  The text of the Treasury Department's response is here.  The details of Grassley's original inquiry are available here.  Grassley made the following comment on today's response.

"With this response, the White House apparently didn't want to answer questions about the Small Business Lending Fund and is hiding behind the Treasury Department.  I wrote a letter to the White House deputy communications director asking questions regarding the statements she wrote about the Small Business Lending Fund.  Since she's a public servant whose salary is paid by the American people, making statements on a taxpayer-funded website that presents official White House positions, I expect direct answers.   It's misleading, at the very least, for the White House to have insisted that the Small Business Lending Fund and TARP have no relationship, even as the Treasury Department acknowledges that at least some banks will use the Small Business Lending Fund to repay their TARP loans."

Senate to Remain In Session While Deficit Reduction Negotiations Continue

WASHINGTON - Two members of his staff will represent Senator Chuck Grassley at the 12 town meetings in Iowa which Grassley had planned for himself for next week.

The change from Grassley to staff members was necessary because of the announcement today that the U.S. Senate will remain in session, instead of recess for the week of the 4^th of July, while negotiations continue over how to achieve $2.4 trillion in savings in the federal budget in order to offset an increase in the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow.  The deadline for an agreement on raising the debt ceiling is August 2, at this point.

Grassley had planned the town meetings as part of his annual visit to every Iowa county for dialogue with constituents.  Now, in Grassley's place, Regional Director Donna Barry and Legislative Aide Sherry Kuntz will conduct town meetings in Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Shelby and Taylor counties.  Grassley's scheduled appearances at the Atlantic and Denison Rotary meetings on July 5 and July 7 have been postponed.  Grassley said he will reschedule constituent meetings in all of these counties.

"My staff will be at each of the town meeting locations next week to hear the concerns of Iowans in these counties, many of which are being impacted directly by the Missouri River flooding," Grassley said.  "Donna Barry and Sherry Kuntz are prepared to answer questions and to follow-up on any issues that Iowans want to bring to my attention.  I look forward to returning to all of these counties myself as soon as possible this year.  It's important to me to be able to meet in person with Iowans in every county, every year, and I appreciate participation by local residents in this kind of dialogue with their elected representative.  Next week, I need to be in Washington because when the Senate is in session, I'm there representing the people of Iowa."  Grassley holds the record in the Senate today for the longest streak of not missing a roll-call vote.

A copy of Grassley's original schedule is available here.

Details about the July 5-7, staff-led town meetings are below.

Tuesday, July 5  

8 - 9 a.m.
Carroll County Town Meeting
New Hope Village, Activity Center Gymnasium, 1211 E. 18th St., Carroll

10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Audubon County Town Meeting
Audubon County Economic Development (ACED), Community Room, 800 Market St., Audubon

2:15 - 3:15 p.m. 
Adams County Town Meeting
Corning Community Building, 601 Sixth St., Corning

4:15 - 5:15 p.m.
Taylor County Town Meeting
Taylor County Farm Bureau, Meeting Room, 607 Pollock Blvd., Bedford

Wednesday, July 6  

8 - 9 a.m.                     
Page County Town Meeting  
Shenandoah Medical Center, Rapp Meeting Room, 300 Pershing Ave., Shenandoah     

10 - 11 a.m.                             
Fremont County Town Meeting  
The Gathering Place, Corner of Cass and Ohio Streets, Sidney     

Noon - 1 p.m.                          
Mills County Town Meeting  
Glenwood Senior Center, 20 N. Vine St., Glenwood     

2 - 3 p.m.                             
Montgomery County Town Meeting  
Montgomery County Family YMCA, 101 E. Cherry St., Red Oak     

4 - 5 p.m.                             
Pottawattamie County Town Meeting  
Oakland Community Building, 129 Harrison St., Oakland     

Thursday, July 7

7 - 8 a.m.                          
Harrison County Town Meeting
United Western Coop, 222 E. Lincoln Highway, Missouri Valley

9:45 - 10:45 a.m.                   
Monona County Town Meeting
Onawa Community Center, 320 10th St., Onawa

2 - 3 p.m.                          
Shelby County Town Meeting
Harlan Public Library, 718 Court St., Harlan

-30-

RAGBRAI is ending in Davenport on Saturday, July 30th. We need your help to welcome the 20,000 riders plus their family and friends that will be visiting our community.

Hundreds of volunteers are needed to perform a variety of activities. Please be an ambassador of your community by volunteering to help out and be part of RAGBRAI XXXIX.

All volunteers receive a free t-shirt. There will be a volunteer meeting in July TBA.

We need volunteers in the following areas:

• Hospitality/Information

• Route/Dip Site, Parking

• Shuttles

• Vendors

• Drivers

Sign up online at www.davenportragbrai.com or call 309-277-0937 x122.

LEE'S SUMMIT, MO (06/29/2011)(readMedia)-- Students in the Class of 2011 in the Davenport area are most interested in pursuing a college major or career in Medical Physician. This finding was released today by My College Options, the nation's largest college planning program.

Across 58 high schools in the Davenport area, 10.2% of students say they are interested in Medical Physician. Around 2,920 area students participated in the My College Options college planning program, reporting their future interests for colleges and careers.

Ryan Munce, Vice President of My College Options, commented, "The most important part of the transition from high school to college is connecting a college education with their future hopes and dreams. While students are in high school, they need to understand that their college educations will help them accomplish what they want to with their lives."

Although college majors and career interests may change over time, these findings give us a glimpse of what the future workforce may look like in Davenport and across the nation.

The top five college majors/career interests for Davenport area seniors are:

1. Medical Physician - 10.2%

2. Nursing/Health Care - 8.5%

3. Music - 8%

4. Teaching/Education - 7.5%

5. Psychology/Psychiatry - 7.1%

About My College Options®

MyCollegeOptions.org, the nation's largest college planning program, is operated by the National Research Center for College & University Admissions™. For almost 40 years, this non-profit education research organization based in Lee's Summit, MO has served as the primary link between high school students and colleges, universities, and the resources they need to succeed. For more information, visit www.mycollegeoptions.org.

On the web: http://readme.readmedia.com/hometown-news/Medical-Physician-is-the-Most-Popular-College-Major-Choice-Among-Davenport-Area-High-School-Seniors-According-to-My-College-Options/2738087.