KMA Land | August 30, 2022

"Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has wrapped up his annual 99 County Tour after a visit to Taylor County Tuesday afternoon.

Gathering with several residents for his 99th town hall at the Taylor County Historical Museum in Bedford, Grassley fielded multiple questions from constituents ranging from recent court decisions on Roe v. Wade and the Inflation Reduction Act to transparency with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and national security. Additionally, the Republican Senator commented on the recent announcement from the Biden Administration on providing student debt relief to the tune of $20,000 to pell grant recipients or $10,000 for non-pell grant recipients making less than $125,000 a year. But, Grassley is concerned about the fairness of the move.

'You have people that are working and never have gone to college that this might seem unfair to, and you have people that are maybe paying their loans down now -- and maybe a few of them might benefit from it, but probably not too many,' said Grassley. 'So you have to take those things into consideration.'

Additionally, the New Hartford Republican questioned the precedent the loan forgiveness sets for additional or more extensive relief in the future. Grassley also disputed whether the President had the authority to make the move without a Congressional vote.

'First of all, the President for a year and half said he didn't think he had the authority to do it,' Grassley explained. 'Then there was a general console in the Department of Education under the Obama Administration that wrote an op-ed a couple months ago saying that the President didn't have the authority to do that. But, obviously after 18 months, somebody convinced the President that he does have the authority to do it.'

Among other topics were concerns with the FBI and what Grassley has previously called a 'lack of transparency' on the raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence and more recent developments such as the federal agency attempting to limit the spread of what they deemed 'misinformation.' While saying he wouldn't be in favor of removing funds from the FBI, Grassley doubled down on his critique of political bias within the agency.

'When it comes to prosecution, there's unequal prosecution, and that's where the political bias shows up,' said Grassley. 'How they handled Hillary Clinton who actually destroyed stuff -- she was negotiated with and not prosecuted. Then with (President Trump), they say they negotiated but they aren't very clear on why they raided.'"

Read the full story here. 

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