with U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyQ: 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 years. For nearly three decades,...
Each night of the week, around 60,000 young people’s heads hit the pillows in a juvenile detention facility. In communities across America, these youth are in state custody for committing offenses that have brought them into the juvenile justice system.Sometimes detention is necessary. But it can often be better to try to resolve the problems that...
by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley As the spring planting season fetches long days in the tractor, farmers across Iowa already have invested an abundance of time and money in the new crop before sowing the first seed into the ground. Key management decisions are considered before the fieldwork begins. New farm bill programs, production costs, lines of...
The vast majority of the world’s consumers don’t live in the United States. Many of those individuals already use products made in the United States. Why not even more products? That’s the premise behind work to open new markets to U.S.-made goods and services. Iowa farmers, manufacturers and services providers...
with U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyQ: What is civil asset forfeiture?A: Asset forfeiture is a crime-fighting tool that enables law enforcement to seize cash or property that’s considered linked to illicit activity. The theory behind the asset forfeiture system is to choke off the funding stream...
by U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyThis year, Chief Judge James E. Gritzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa and former Chief Judge Mark W. Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa take senior status and cap off a combined 37 years of extraordinary public service to our state. Their vacancies provide a...
by U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyMost Americans are relieved to see Tax Day fade into the distance. This year another taxing milestone takes a bit longer to reach the rearview mirror. Tax Freedom Day falls on April 24. That’s how long American taxpayers collectively will work into the year to fulfill federal, state and local tax liabilities. That means...
Whistleblowers are sometimes mistreated in obviously egregious ways, like the employee of the federal Bureau of Prisons who was assigned to work in a converted prison cell without basic office equipment after speaking out about problems at the agency. Other times, whistleblowers are silenced before they even have a chance to speak out. ...
The parameters toward a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program are cause for skepticism. For more than two decades, Iran has engaged in illicit activities to acquire nuclear capabilities. These efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and Iran’s support of terrorist groups are serious U.S. security concerns. Iran has a spotty track...
Several years have passed since the tragic gunwalking program by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) known as Operation Fast and Furious. As you may remember seeing in the news, the ATF knowingly allowed firearms to be sold to Mexican drug cartel members and then lost track of hundreds of the firearms after they were...
With U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyQ: What more can be done to reduce sexual violence in society? A: The President signed a proclamation making April National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Obviously, the stroke of a presidential pen isn’t going to solve this issue in the 30 days of April. If only it were that simple to erase the...
by U.S Senator Chuck GrassleyA profound heartache burns deeply for the rescuers, survivors and victims who will observe this month the second anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing spree. Just two years ago, a massive search for two suspects alleged to have detonated twin blasts at the race’s finish line shut down the entire metropolitan area for...
We all know what the food pyramid looks like: two to three servings of dairy a day, two to four servings of fruit, minimal sweets. But, the food pyramid you know may soon be missing a vital building block -- red meat.Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review the...
Recent tips to my office revealed questionable behavior by high ranking employees at the U.S. Marshals Service, the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agency. In one instance, Kimberly Beal, the deputy assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service Asset Forfeiture Division, allegedly influenced her staff to hire an unqualified person, who had...
with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Q: What is an H-1B Visa?A: An H-1B visa is a temporary, employment-based visa status for skilled foreign guest workers. Administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the H-1B program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for jobs requiring a college degree or equivalent...
My wife Barbara is a 28-year breast cancer survivor. The issue is personal to me, but really, it’s personal to all of us. An estimated 232,670 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed and an estimated 40,000 deaths from the disease occurred in 2014, according to the National Cancer Institute. An estimated 2,899,726 women were...
by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley You know March Madness has arrived when a large share of Americans are checking on their NCAA brackets and checking off their tax returns. Traditionally, it’s also the season when Congress gets in the zone to hammer out tax and spending policies for the next federal budget. It’s the big dance in...
by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Withholding information, or even appearing to keep the public at arm’s length, creates a breach of trust between the American people and our institutions of government. Journalists, good government watchdogs, private citizens and even members of Congress often butt up against a byzantine bureaucracy that makes it...
With U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyQ: What is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)?A: The EITC is an anti-poverty program that uses the federal tax code as a vehicle to put cash benefits directly into the pockets of the working poor. Unlike other government spending programs where assistance for poor and low-income families is filtered through layers...
with U.S. Senator Chuck GrassleyQ: What is the “Dirty Dozen” list released by the IRS?A: Mark Twain often is credited for using a phrase that still resonates with many Americans in the 21st century, especially during this time of the year. He said the only two certainties in life are “death and...
