Commentary

  • 06.13.2025

    America is at a crossroads. During the Biden-Harris administration, over 10 million illegal immigrants – including violent criminals and potential terrorists – poured over our nation’s border. After four years of chaos, Americans overwhelmingly elected President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a platform of securing the border, removing dangerous criminals...
  • 06.13.2025

    Recently, I met with leaders of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare in my office. One of the issues we discussed was Social Security, a topic that regularly comes up at my 99 county meetings. Did you know FDR signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago on Aug. 14, 1935? As we approach the historic anniversary of the...
  • 03.30.2025

    This month’s NBC poll finds more registered voters believe our country is on the right track than at any other point in the past two decades. But amid President Trump’s flurry of executive action, federal district judges have increasingly—and inappropriately—inserted themselves into the national policy debate. They have repeatedly chosen not only to decide...
  • 03.19.2025

    Senators are naming and shaming the FBI agents who participated in an unprecedented surveillance plot against the 45th, and now 47th, president of the United States. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin asked the FBI and Justice Department on Friday to hand over all files related to Operation Arctic Frost. In April 2022,...
  • 03.12.2025

    Today, screens are constantly fighting for our attention. The 24/7 news cycle and ever-present social media dominate our days and drive conflict. In short, it’s getting more and more difficult to thoughtfully debate the big issues. Since our nation’s founding, speech and debate have been the cornerstone of this country, inspiring documents like the...
  • 03.05.2025

    Barack Obama, John Kerry’s work for Iran shows Russiagate was pure projection New York Post Editorial Board March 5, 2024   …A blockbuster new report from Sen. Charles Grassley’s Judiciary Committee shows that the Obama administration secretly worked behind the scenes to systematically protect Iranian agents and operations from federal investigators — for...
  • 10.16.2024

    Inside America’s Fastest-Growing Criminal Enterprise: Sex Trafficking ‘Washington’s lack of interest in the sex-trafficking crisis is stunning. Sometimes it seems as though the only person in a position of power who cares about the issue is 91-year-old Senator Grassley.’ By Madeleine Rowley October 14, 2024 The Free Press   There is no question that the...
  • 05.01.2024

    As students applied for college this year, many were hit with an unexpected setback. The FAFSA—the tool that allows students to apply for federal financial aid—didn’t become fully available online until almost four months later than usual. Like cascading dominos, that delay has led to a slew of problems in the college admissions process. Students are...
  • 03.22.2024

    We celebrated this National Agriculture Week on the heels of a new industry census, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issues every five years. The report spotlights short-term trends, with USDA’s latest survey covering 2017 through 2022. It also contextualizes long-term themes: How does today’s farm landscape measure against those of decades’...
  • 02.15.2024

    The start of every new year brings with it a rush of anticipation for what lies ahead. This year, the eyes of the world are trained on Paris, where the Summer Olympic Games will open in July. And though the competition is months off, away from the arena, a courageous group of U.S. athletes have already helped notch a major victory.  For years, some of the...
  • 02.08.2024

    Every day is National Iowa Day in my book. There’s no shortage of things to celebrate in our great state. Iowa farmers feed our nation and countries around the globe. Iowa manufacturing is responsible for nearly one-fifth of the state’s economic output. For decades, the state has harnessed natural resources, built critical infrastructure and put renewable...
  • 12.22.2023

    Should our courts abandon 150 years of precedent and make it easier for wrongdoers to steal taxpayer funds? Fraudsters surely think so. Employees-turned-whistleblowers of medical-device manufacturer Exactech Inc. accuse the company of selling defective knee-replacement parts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies, resulting in...
  • 12.08.2023

    Decades of drug price inflation have reached a fever pitch that finally has lawmakers in both political parties itching for action. But, as is often the case in Washington, good intentions don't always equate to good ideas or outcomes. The government's drug price controls enacted last year in the Inflation Reduction Act are already killing innovation, as...
  • 06.14.2023

    It's business as usual these days in Washington: months of procrastinating as a looming fiscal disaster roils the markets, followed by a last-minute deal that nobody really likes, only to set another deadline for the next fiscal crisis. It's the way we've operated for years. Congress consistently fails to adopt a budget or pass government funding...
  • 05.30.2023

    The quickly approaching debt limit gives Congress and the White House an important opportunity to reset and put our fiscal house in order. Unfortunately, President Biden has made it clear he is more interested in continuing his tax and spending sprees that have accelerated our debt and deficits, and brought about economic pain and uncertainty. The White...
  • 02.23.2023

    In 1984, when faced with $200 billion deficits and a national debt nearing $2 trillion, an emphatic Democrat Sen. Joe Biden warned of "economic disaster" unless Congress took "dramatic actions on deficits right now." He was advocating for a government-wide spending freeze – a bipartisan proposal that he and I led to restore fiscal restraint to the...
  • 01.24.2023

    When a rural hospital closes, it takes away life-saving services from expecting mothers in labor who don’t have time to drive long distances to the nearest hospital. When a rural hospital closes, it takes away life-saving services from farmers at their wits end about making loan payments and are contemplating suicide.When a rural hospital closes, parents...
  • 01.12.2023

    Between July of 2021 and June of 2022, more than 107,000 Americans tragically died from a drug overdose, cementing opioids as the leading cause of death among people ages 18 to 45 in the United States. In Iowa alone, 210 lives were lost to these drugs in 2020. These individuals are not just statistics; they are parents, siblings, husbands, wives,...
  • 10.06.2022

    As a leading advocate for lowering drug prices in the Senate, I’ve hauled Big Pharma and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) executives before Congress, led a two-year bipartisan investigation into insulin price gouging and advanced bipartisan reforms to lower the cost of insulin and many other prescription drugs.   In the past few years, bipartisan...
  • 09.14.2022

    Nearly five years ago, Congress passed bipartisan legislation I led alongside Senator Warren of Massachusetts to make certain types of hearing aids easily available to Americans with mild to moderate hearing loss. Our proposal, the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act, was signed into law in August of 2017, but years went by before the Food and...