By Bob Eschliman Editor The Republican-led Iowa House of Representatives, by voice vote, moved four bills to conference committee on Wednesday afternoon. The first bill sent to conference, Senate File 496, was the Senate’s Judicial Branch appropriations bill. The Senate had rejected a House amendment earlier in the […]
From Press Release Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today called for a better explanation of certain spending practices within the U.S. Marshals Service’s Asset Forfeiture Division. The request follows incomplete and potentially misleading responses to questions Grassley raised in March surrounding the alleged […]
From Press Release Every year, 400,000 children enter the foster care system. Less well-known is the large number of children who are removed from their homes but informally placed with loving grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives. About 2.485 million children are raised in grandfamilies or kinship care. […]
From Press Release Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad denied the following applications for commutation: • Edgar M. Cardona, age 40, committed his crime on November 11, 2003, in Pottawattamie County. He is currently serving a twenty-five year sentence for first-degree robbery. • Troy A. Midthus, age 48, committed his […]
From Press Release Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will sign three bills into law tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in the Governor’s Formal Office. House File 585 is an Act establishing an address confidentiality program in the Office of the Secretary of State for a victim of domestic abuse, domestic […]
By The Iowa Statesman U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) is adamant that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region must be armed in their fight against ISIS. On the heels of introducing a bipartisan bill to provide temporary emergency authority for President Obama to provide weapons and training […]
From Press Release Q: Why is the month of May designated to observe the nation’s foster care system? A: It’s a good opportunity to highlight an important issue that affects 400,000 children in America. Every year 255,000 kids enter the foster care system and the average stay lasts two […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor In an hour and a half, the Iowa Senate approved legislation than it had in the past week. The Senate bounced back and forth between the Appropriations, Ways and Means, and Unfinished Business calendars, passing nine bills. Among them, senators to up two pieces […]
By The Iowa Statesman This morning, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on government transparency titled “Ensuring an Informed Citizenry: Examining the Administration’s Efforts to Improve Open Government.”At the onset of the hearing, committee chairman U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) made the following statement: Good […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor After nearly five hours of floor debate Tuesday, the Iowa House of Representatives managed to adopt eight bills, including a couple of appropriations bills. The morning got off to a fast start with passage of three of the bills in just 41 minutes. The House […]
By The Iowa Statesman The following are the prepared remarks of a floor speech given yesterday by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) regarding the allegations of misconduct at the U.S. Marshals Service. Mr. President, the United States Marshals Service performs many important functions. Marshals protect Federal Judges, they transport […]
From Press Release U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) issued the following statement after voting for the Congressional balanced budget: “This joint Senate-House budget agreement is a necessary roadmap to put Congress on the right path toward restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington. It sets the framework to balance the budget, […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced bipartisan legislation to provide for a temporary, emergency authorization of defense articles, defense services, and related training directly to the Kurdistan Regional Government. Other cosponsors include Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), and […]
By The Iowa Statesman Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) joined Senate colleagues and close air support experts at a press conference to support the effort to prevent the premature divestment of the A-10. The Iowa Senator stressed the importance of the A-10 as a resource for American men and […]
From Press Release Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today pressed the Drug Enforcement Administration to answer questions that have gone unanswered for nearly three years regarding the agency’s detention of Daniel Chong. Grassley began asking questions shortly after news reports surfaced that Mr. Chong was […]
By The Iowa Statesman Tony Orlando sang a rousing renditions of “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ol’ Oak Tree” and “America is My Hometown,” his college roommate gave the invocation, and the local Boy Scout Troop from his hometown presented the colors and led the Pledge of Allegiance, […]
From Press Release Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the following statement welcoming Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and Gov. Mike Huckabee to the race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States: “The entry of three candidates into the 2016 GOP primary this week is […]
By The Iowa Statesman This morning, the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control held a hearing on improving the management of the nation’s controlled substance quota process. At the beginning of the hearing, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) issued the following prepared statement: Today’s hearing addresses a timely […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today led a bipartisan group of senators pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the avian flu outbreak receives the highest prioritization for the department. In a letter, Grassley and 14 other senators pressed leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee […]
From Press Release Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt pressing the agency to further clarify guidance for how federal funds may be used to implement the […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor In the run-up to passage of the omnibus transportation funding bill, Senate File 257, which resulted in the 10-cent increase in Iowa’s motor fuel sales and use tax, a number of lobbyist groups declared their support for the legislation. But only two of those groups, […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor UPDATE: Following The Iowa Statesman’s original report, Caffeinated Thoughts editor Shane Vander Hart received the following response to questions about state Rep. Josh Byrnes’ about homeschool families in Iowa: “Shane, you are so out of touch. I represent a group of constituents. I don’t […]
By The Iowa Statesman Running the United States government might not be brain surgery, but a retired neurosurgeon from Detroit thinks he knows what it will take to get the country back on track. Dr. Ben Carson officially announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination today in his […]
From Press Release Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered all flags on the Capitol Complex to be flown at half-staff from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday in observance of the Iowa Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony which is to be held at 10 a.m. that day at the […]
By The Iowa Statesman Leave it to former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to take the high-tech approach in announcing her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. The former tech businesswoman will make the announcement at 3 p.m. today during a special “town hall” event hosted on the application […]
From Press Release Friday, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, applauded the Senate’s passage of a measure that helps law enforcement agencies apprehend criminals who have injured or killed police officers. The Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act also creates a […]
By The Iowa Statesman This afternoon, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was joined by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Mark Schouten to discuss the state’s response to HPAI H5N2 outbreak in Iowa. As part of the discussion, Branstad also […]
From Press Release Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad today signed the following bills into law: House File 347: An act relating to the licensure of child care programs operated or contracted for by a school district or accredited nonpublic school and including effective date provisions. House File 447: An […]
By The Iowa Statesman U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has released his weekly video address, in which he discusses his bill to enhance “529” college savings programs. “This program has proven to be a successful tool to help families save for college,” he said. “I introduced legislation back in […]
From Press Release U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA 4) released the following statement after the House Armed Services Committee accepted an amnesty amendment during the markup of H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act: “I was disappointed to see that the House Armed Services Committee accepted an amnesty amendment […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor The painfully slow process of adopting a FY 2016 budget continued Thursday morning and evening in the General Assembly with House passage of its own administration and regulation and education appropriations bills. During floor debate on House File 659, the atmosphere of the chamber was […]
From Press Release The bipartisan, bicameral Iowa egation, led by Congressman Dave Loebsack, today called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide any assistance they can under their statutory authority to help affected states combat the recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu. […]
From Press Release Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today are introducing legislation to ensure that at-risk youth are fairly and effectively served by juvenile justice grant programs. Their legislation updates existing law by promoting improved transparency and accountability at the state and federal level. It […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) joined a bipartisan group of legislators Thursday who introduced a bill to reauthorize and strengthen the National Guard State Partnership Program. The State Partnership Program Enhancement Act of 2015, which has a corresponding bill in the House of Representatives, will permanently […]
From Press Release A bill to help address the treatment of mentally ill offenders by the criminal justice system cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Chairman Chuck Grassley said. The bill was sponsored by Senator Al Franken and was cosponsored by Grassley along with Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy, […]
From Press Release Earlier today, Hillary Clinton proposed various criminal justice reform ideas in an attempt to undo some of Bill Clinton’s work– the same work she cheerfully supported as First Lady. According to Salon, the Clinton administration’s focus on the “War on Drugs” is responsible for increasing incarceration […]
From Press Release Last weekend, Republican presidential candidate Chris Hill received an enthusiastic response to his “People’s Campaign” at the Muscatine County Republican Spring Picnic held on Sunday in Wilton. The annual event was hosted by Chairman Fred Grunder and attended by local and state representatives including Steve Scheffler. […]
By The Iowa Statesman U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) spe yesterday on the Senate floor to call for congressional approval of any final deal with Iran. Senator Ernst emphasized the need to preserve U.S. national security interests, those of our allies, and the need to maintain stability in the […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor There has been very little urgency in the General Assembly – particularly on the part of House Republicans – to finalize the budget during the final official week of the 2015 legislative session. The House Republican leadership unveiled its budget targets last week, nearly two […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today announced his Iowa Leadership Team, naming prosecutor and former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz his Iowa State Chairman, in addition to 23 other state lawmakers, conservative activists and influencers as Iowa state co-chairs. Cruz for President’s Iowa State Director, […]
From Press Release Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, along with senior committee members John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer introduced legislation Wednesday that would make necessary and commonsense reforms to restore integrity to the U.S. patent system. Judiciary Committee members Mike Lee, Orrin Hatch […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) received the Congressional Advocate of the Year award from the Child Welfare League of America on Tuesday for his work to protect children and support of child welfare programs. “Working to improve the lives of underprivileged and vulnerable youth is something […]
From Press Release Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with North Carolina senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, today introduced legislation prohibiting people with gang ties from receiving deferred deportation and other immigration benefits. The bill also makes gang members deportable and inadmissible […]
From Press Release At least one Republican is aiming to end Democrat state Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell’s service in the Iowa House of Representatives in the 2016 General Election. Sondra Childs-Smith announced Tuesday that she will be seeking election in House District 45, which is made up of southern Ames […]
From Press Release At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing chaired by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged that a lapse in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ background check procedures led the agency to erroneously grant deferred deportation to a known gang member […]
From Press Release U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is pressing the Department of Veterans Affairs for answers on reported widespread mistreatment and punishment of whistleblowers. Grassley called the reported mistreatment “beyond unacceptable” in a letter to the agency secretary and inspector general. “Improvement of veteran health care is dependent, […]
By The Iowa Statesman Another probable Republican presidential contender will be visiting Iowa next week. Next Tuesday, May 5, Dr. Ben Carson will hold a rally and meet-and-greet beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel located at 1200 Collins Road NE in Cedar Rapids. The hour-long event will […]
By The Iowa Statesman The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the need for oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In his opening remarks, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the committee, said congressional oversight of the Executive Branch is a “critical function […]
By Bob Eschliman Editor Monday, the Iowa Senate approved the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations bill that covers the Iowa Department of Natural Resouces, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission on a party- vote. Senate File 494 was a “status quo” bill in […]
By The Iowa Statesman U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said today that Luis Angel Martinez of Des Moines and Harrison Patrick Gudorf of West Des Moines have received appointments to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY, for the 2015-16 […]
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