Capitol Tours, Other Services Available to Iowans Visiting Nation’s Capital; Spring Break Reception Planned for Visiting Families
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley reminds Iowans that his office is available to help with U.S. Capitol building tours and other arrangements for those planning a trip to Washington, D.C. Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst also scheduled a reception to meet Iowans visiting the nation’s capital during many Iowa schools’ spring break the week of March 14 through March 18.
“My staff is very good at giving tours of the U.S. Capitol,” Grassley said. “They know a lot of history and facts of interest. They also can help with the logistics of visiting other popular sites. I encourage Iowans to get in touch with requests and questions.”
In addition to the Capitol building, one of the most requested sites is visiting the White House. Tour tickets are limited, and requests in advance give the best chance for accommodation. More information on help with tours is available here on Grassley’s website.
Given the large number of Iowans expected to visit Washington, D.C., over spring break, Grassley and Ernst will hold an open door reception for interested Iowans.
What: Spring Break Reception for Iowans
When: Tuesday, March 15, 2016, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern
Where: 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Judiciary Committee hearing room*
*Logistics might change due to unforeseen scheduling needs or the need for a bigger room. The office will send out final confirmation as the date approaches.
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Benghazi Case Demonstrates Perils of Administration’sDeferential Approach to Fighting Terrorism
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is pressing the State Department and Justice Department for details on how a known terrorist involved in an attack on American officials was able to remain outside the reach of U.S. authorities. The terrorist continued to recruit for and plot future attacks, despite assurances from the State Department that he was being monitored by a foreign government.
Shortly after the September 11, 2012, attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Turkish authorities detained Ali Awni al Harzi, a suspect in the attacks. He was then transferred to his home country of Tunisia to face terrorism charges. The FBI, reportedly with the assistance of the State Department, was allowed to interview al Harzi in Tunisia about his role in the Benghazi attacks. However, rather than standing trial or being transferred to U.S. custody, al Harzi was released by Tunisian authorities in January of 2013.
In congressional hearings later that month, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to congressional concerns about the terrorist’s release, testifying that the Tunisian government promised that al Harzi would be surveilled and prohibited from leaving Tunis. Clinton also assured the congressional panels that the State Department would hold the Tunisians to that pledge. Yet, al Harzi was able to leave Tunisia and join ISIS, where he reportedly recruited more foreign fighters, plotted hundreds of suicide attacks and helped ISIS expand from a regional terrorist group into a more globalized one. In June 2015, the Defense Department announced that al Harzi was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike against ISIS targets in Mosul, Iraq.
Grassley’s inquiry seeks to determine whether U.S. officials exhausted every available resource and authority to take custody of al Harzi and prevent him from returning to the battlefield. Grassley has been an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration’s attempts to treat terrorists as common criminals rather than enemy combatants. In a letter last year to the Attorney General, Grassley and nine other senators stated, “... we fear the potential loss of intelligence when the Administration elects to outsource the detention and interrogation of terrorists to foreign governments, perhaps due to a political aversion to the U.S. detaining them at Guantanamo.”
Here are links to Grassley’s letters to the State Department and Justice Department.
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AGENDA - Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226
January 21, 2016 at 10:00 a.m.
I. Bills
S. 247, Expatriate Terrorist Act (Cruz, Grassley, Lee, Blunt)
H.R. 1428, Judicial Redress Act of 2015
S. 483, Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2015 (Hatch, Whitehouse, Vitter)
S. 1890, Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 (Hatch, Coons, Sessions, Feinstein, Flake, Durbin, Perdue, Klobuchar, Tillis, Franken, Blumenthal)
S. 2040, Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (Cornyn, Schumer, Grassley, Feinstein, Hatch, Whitehouse, Graham, Klobuchar, Lee, Franken, Cruz, Coons, Flake, Blumenthal, Perdue, Tillis)
II. Nominations
Mary S. McElroy, to be a United States District Judge for the District of Rhode Island
Susan Paradise Baxter, to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Marilyn Jean Horan, to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania
