Senator Grassley hosts town hall meeting in Waukon

by Bob Beach

Area residents filled the meeting room at the Farm Bureau building in Waukon Tuesday, April 10 for a town hall meeting with Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who seemed pleased with the large turn-out. Grassley said that he makes an effort to visit every one of the 99 counties in Iowa when the Senate is not in session and invited those in attendance at the meeting to ask questions on any subject. Many of those questions were in regard to the upcoming farm bill, which Grassley said has not been “fleshed out yet,” but he did add that direct payments will go away, though he would support some kind of income protection, so long as those protections would not affect farm management decisions and that crop insurance would be included in the bill. Grassley also fielded questions on topics including estate taxes, veterans issues, the Keystone oil pipeline, renewable energy, commodities market regulations, immigration reform, Social Security reform, the federal budget and “Operation Fast and Furious” in which Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents allegedly allowed the sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.