Council chambers overflow at Grassley visit

FORT MADISON – A spillover crowd greeted U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley Tuesday afternoon at the Fort Madison City Hall, but took the annual stop in Lee County as a chance to vent their frustrations with current administration policies.
More than 100 people were admitted into the city’s Council Chambers while about 30 more stood outside the door and even shouted questions in over those standing in the doorway.
The group peppered Grassley with questions ranging from the current tariff climate, to veterans’ support, welfare benefits, and immigration.
Several attendees repeatedly shouted to Grassley to answer questions. For slightly more than an hour, Grassley remained even-handed standing throughout the session and just one time leaned on a chair between attendees to listen to a question.
Lee County Democratic Chairwoman Mary Jo Reisberg pressed Grassley on the Trump Administration’s position on immigrants.
Reisberg said, as a Sunday school teacher, she prays for refugees looking for a better life in America, one that is now harder and harder for them to find.
Grassley said this country continues to welcome refugees and immigrants as long as they come into the country legally and do what they are supposed to do as citizens.
“We welcome refugees at legal status,” he said to groans from the audience.
“Right now we’re not,” Reisberg said. “These changes have been taking place and that’s what concerns me. It hurts me.”
The crowd also pushed Grassley on helping get a Maryland father mistakenly deported to an El Salvadoran prison returned home.
“Are you gonna bring that man back from El Salvador,” one man yelled over the crowd.
Others said the U.S. Supreme Court said he should not have been sent to the Cegot prison in that country without due process.

“Every person, not citizen, person in the United States has due process,” one attendee said.
“That’s been violated by this oligarchy administration and we would like to know what you, as someone who should rein in this dictator, are going to do. Why won’t you do your job, Senator?”
Grassley said El Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele doesn’t answer to the U.S. Supreme Court and he is the one refusing to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.
Grassley was deft in his discussion about tariffs and a 2017 federal tax law that is about to sunset that would result “in the largest increase in taxes in U.S. history,” if current tax proposals aren’t put in place.
The senator met with media following the town hall and said this is the most emotional time he’s seen since 2017 when President Barack Obama’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court Merrick Garland wasn’t put up for a vote and held over for the next administration. He said 2009 with ObamaCare was also very electrified.
The national Republican party had discouraged officials from holding town hall forums, but Grassley has been one of the few that has pushed ahead. Grassley attributed the emotional tone of recent town halls to the Trump Administration. 
“Yes, absolutely. In 2017 we were 20,000 mailings behind and now we’re at about 35,000. Took a long time to catch up.”
Grassley then headed north to the Greater Burlington Partnership where he discussed tariffs again with business and industry leaders there.
Burlington City Manager Chad Bird asked Grassley specifically about rumors of Congress wanting to do away with tax exempt municipal bonds. Bird said he had heard rumblings of the move as a way to generate revenue.
Grassley said he wouldn’t support that as cities are economic drivers. He also told IAAP officials that the munitions plant wouldn’t be forgotten about. The facility has $400 million in federal aid that was supposed to be allocated to an expansion of that facility. Grassley said that money may be frozen now, but in a month that may change.
He said that the nation's defense is as weak as it's been in a long time and the work of the ammunition plant is critical.
"If I were sitting in Beijing right now, I'd invade Taiwan," he said.