Video of the floor speech is available here.

Floor Statement of Sen. Chuck Grassley

On Terry Branstad as the Longest-serving Governor in U.S. History

Delivered Thursday, December 10, 2015

Mr. President, I'd like to recognize the Iowa governor, Terry Branstad, on a significant milestone.  On December 14, 2015, Governor Branstad will become the longest-serving governor in the nation's history.

That's a large feather in the cap of a farm kid from the town of Leland, population 289, in Winnebago County in northern Iowa.

In many ways, a small town farm background prepared Terry Branstad for his success as a state House member, lieutenant governor, and then governor in two separate tenures.

The farm crisis of the 1980s hit every farm state hard, and Iowa, at the heart of the nation's bread basket, suffered deeply.

All of us who lived in Iowa at the time saw friends and neighbors lose their family farms and struggle with what to do next to earn a living.

The state needed men and women with vision and ambition to pull the economy out of the doldrums.  It needed people who could see the potential for farmers to add value to their operations and for Iowa to diversify its economy.  Terry Branstad was one of those people.

He was at the forefront of creating a new environment to do business.  He welcomed and actively encouraged innovation that would capitalize on Iowa's bedrock work ethic and strong schools.

As a result, agriculture was and continues to be a mainstay of the Iowa economy, but agriculture more than ever is an engine for many other employment sectors:  renewable energy, manufacturing, crop research, insurance and financial services, and much more.

As governor from 1983 to 1999, Terry Branstad took the helm during some of the state's worst economic turmoil in decades and steered the ship toward impressive economic growth.  The unemployment rate went from 8.5 percent to a record low 2.5 percent.

The governor could have rested on those laurels and continued to work outside of state government, but he answered the call when the state needed him again in 2010.  He put the state of Iowa's interests ahead of his own and went to work for Iowans a second time, bringing his valuable leadership to the governor's office for another round.  That in a nutshell tells you everything you need to know about Terry Branstad.

The state of Iowa comes first for him.

Iowans are well-acquainted with Terry Branstad's accomplishments and work ethic.  It's gratifying to see those attributes get attention on a national scale and in the history books.  He's earned his place.  We're lucky to have him in Iowa.

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(DES MOINES) - Today, Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds announced that they have completed their visits to all 99 of Iowa's counties for 2015.  This announcement is now the 5th year in a row that both Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds have visited all 99 counties?every year since they took office in 2011.  They held a combined 692 public events in 2015.

"Visiting all 99 counties is a priority both the Lt. Governor and I share.  We believe the best way to connect with the people of Iowa is to visit them each year," said Branstad. "We have accomplished a lot since 2011, but we are not done yet and this is the best way to hear Iowans' ideas for growing a prosperous future for Iowa.

Lt. Governor Reynolds added, "These visits across Iowa reaffirm our commitment to openness, honesty and accountability to Iowans.  This year, we visited schools, cafes, small businesses, agricultural operations and many more places across Iowa to let our citizens know that they don't have to travel to Des Moines to have their voices heard.  We will continue visiting every county every year to discuss and hear from hard-working Iowans on the issues our state faces."

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SEIU Local 199 members: Clinton supports our movement to build a better future for working families

VIDEO: Watch SEIU members speak about why they support Hillary Clinton

IOWA CITY, IA?After members conducted a rigorous endorsement process for the past several months, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) today endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, calling her a leader who will stand up for the working moms and dads building a movement to secure a better future for their families.

"Hillary Clinton supports working people who are trying to provide a good life for their families," said Tim Martens, a high school head custodian in Dubuque. "She stands with us on the issues that matter to our families the most."

"The members of SEIU Local 199 are proud to support Hillary Clinton for president," said Cathy Glasson, SEIU Local 199 President. "We are concerned about the same things as people across the country: earning a fair wage for a fair day's work and the ability to take care of and provide a better life for our families. We cannot afford four years of policies that will hurt working families while lining the pockets of big corporations.

SEIU's national months-long member engagement process included a 1,200-member conference in March, three national tele-town hall meetings in which more than 80,000 members participated, three national member polls from the fall of 2014 through the fall of 2015 and more than 200 local executive board debates and discussions with thousands of local union officers and elected member-leaders.

Hillary Clinton will fight to raise wages and has stood up for the rights of workers to join together in a union.  She has spoken out in support of the Fight for $15 movement: on the movement's April 15 national day of action, during the New York wage board fight that resulted in $15 for all fast food workers in the state, for the $15 victories in Los Angeles city and county and again just last week, on Nov. 10, during the biggest day of action yet.

 

"As cleaners, we roll up our sleeves every day and get the job done without complaint. When Hillary Clinton is president, she will do the same. She will fight tirelessly for working families. I like that she is not running to prove a point, she is running to make our country better," said Pam Johnston, a cleaner, member of 32BJ SEIU in Pittsburgh and executive board member.

 

Once elected, Hillary Clinton will have the opportunity to address the epidemic of low wages and poor training standards for our nation's airport workers, who keep travelers safe and airports clean. "Airport jobs should be good jobs ? and together, we can make sure they are," she wrote to airport workers gathered at a national convention last month in Washington.

Clinton has recognized the value of care work in our nation, particularly the home care providers and child care teachers who help educate our future generations and allow our seniors and those with disabilities to live with dignity at home. In many places, these workers earn poverty wages with no sick or vacation time and few if any benefits. "One of the things I'm trying to do in this campaign is put raising wages at the center," Clinton said at an August roundtable meeting in Los Angeles with SEIU home care providers. "I think your skills deserve a lot more pay and benefits than what's currently being made available to you."

"Hillary Clinton understands that child care teachers need living wages and that the care has to be affordable for people," said Marites McLean, a child care provider and member of SEIU Local 509 in Massachusetts. "She gets it and she's going to do something about it."

Clinton is also a leader on the core issues SEIU members care about in this election, including fighting for commonsense immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship, standing up for voting rights and criminal justice reform that prioritizes ending mass incarceration and supporting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Clinton's commitment to quality, affordable healthcare goes back decades to her courageous efforts in 1994 to ensure coverage for all. SEIU members know she will fight hard to strengthen the ACA so we never go backward.

"I'm very excited about our endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president," said Ann Byrne, a member of SEIU Local 199 and registered nurse at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. "I'm going to caucus for her, door-knock for her and phone bank for her. As a nurse for 26 years, I know that Hillary Clinton will defend and strengthen the Affordable Care Act so our patients get the care they need."

"Hillary Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver and win for working families," said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. "SEIU members and working families across America are part of a growing movement to build a better future for their families, and Hillary Clinton will support and stand with them. This movement for economic, racial, immigrant and social justice is poised to turn out to vote in November with their families and communities and keep pushing elected officials to deliver once in office."

SEIU's 2 million members will join hands with community partners in a broad movement for economic, social, immigrant and racial justice. Along with the 64 million people who work at jobs paying poverty-level wages, they will be a powerful force during the 2016 elections. Hundreds of thousands of face-to-face and door-to-door contacts, millions of phone calls, robust digital engagement and other activities to get out the vote will counteract the efforts of billionaires and corporations to elect leaders who would answer only to the wealthy few.

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The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) unites 2 million diverse members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. SEIU members working in the healthcare industry, in the public sector and in property services believe in the power of joining together on the job to win higher wages and benefits and to create better communities while fighting for a more just society and an economy that works for all of us, not just corporations and the wealthy.

DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 4, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- Presidential Candidates Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Mike Huckabee, and Governor Bobby Jindal will address National Religious Liberties Conference attendees on Nov. 6 at the Iowa Events Center. Freedom 2015 is a gathering of over 1,700 Christians celebrating the religious liberties codified into the founding of our country. Speakers and attendees alike will encourage those who have been persecuted for their religious beliefs and discuss religious liberties for Christian business owners, teachers, evangelists, chaplains, employees and churches. The conference is sponsored by over a dozen evangelical organizations including American Family Association, Liberty Institute, Samaritan Ministries and Generations.

"Despite the bedrock of religious liberty upon which this nation was founded, we've seen a marked erosion of these liberties over the past few years," explained Kevin Swanson, the conference organizer. "It's more than bakers being forced to make cakes they don't want to make and photographers forced to photograph weddings they don't want to attend or risk losing their family businesses. Last week, a high school football coach in Washington was suspended and threatened to be fired for praying privately." Swanson cited other issues including the Iowa newspaper editor who was fired last year for religious beliefs expressed in a personal blog and several years ago a public school official in Texas who was denied a promotion because she refused to remove her children from a private Christian school.

"We're thankful for presidential candidates who affirm religious liberties in our nation. We want to encourage Christians in their homes, churches and workplaces by helping them understand the freedoms that are theirs by the grace of God and by the law of the land," added Swanson.

In addition to the presidential candidates, conference speakers include :

• Persecuted Christians David and Jason Benham, Richard & Betty Odgaard, SMSgt Phillip Monk, Aaron & Melissa Klein and Randy Pfaff
• Religious freedom advocates Kelly Schackelford, Rafael Cruz, James Lansberry, Brigadier General Douglas Lee, USA (ret), Bob Vander Plaats, Bradley Pierce and Chuck Hurley

Conference speakers will address religious liberty in the military, medical care, parenting, education and the workplace.

Conference registration and livestreaming is available at Freedom2015.org. Media contact Blair Watkinson, Director of Media Relations, for more information: 720-778-1517 or media@freedom2015.org.