SEN. GRASSLEY HOLDS A NEWS TELECONFERENCE
NOVEMBER 26, 2008
SPEAKER: SEN. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, R-IOWA
MODERATOR: The following is an unrehearsed interview with Iowa
Senator Chuck Grassley speaking to you live from his farm in New
Hartford. Participating in today's public affairs program are Mike
Peterson with KMA Radio in Shenandoah and Rusty Ebert with the Van
Buren County Register in Keosauqua. The first question will be from
Mike Peterson.
PETERSON: Senator, there's lots of discussion in the country
right now about the proposal to bail out the big three auto makers in
Detroit. What are your constituents telling you about this proposed
bailout? And is this something that you support, or do you believe
the big three should be allowed to go into bankruptcy?
GRASSLEY: Yes, well first of all, Mike and Rusty, Happy
Thanksgiving. Thank you for being with us the day before the holiday.
And I hope you get some of the holiday as well. First of all, what
was coming up last week obviously isn't going to come up. It was
being proposed by Democrats. And they had a hearing on it. And
Republicans were at the hearing.
And there was bipartisan agreement that without a plan there was
no business of throwing money into the big three. So I never had a
chance to vote on it. I probably would have voted against that
proposal. But in a bipartisan way even the Democrats backed off
proposing what they had originally come up with.
So they're home in Detroit trying to figure out what to do. And
a preplanned bankruptcy is part of it. But most of all, when they
come back next week, they've got to have a plan that we can see light
at the end of the tunnel. And I would say it ought to involve three
things, two of which I think it will involve, some renegotiation of
contracts, and number two, executives working for $1 a year.
It ought to throw in some government regulations that are part of
the problem for Detroit because we're uncompetitive with other
manufacturing of cars. And consequently, if we could just delay the
implementation of some regulations, it would be a good thing to do.
And one of those -- and it would tilt me towards some support
besides the necessity of renegotiating and executives having the $1
salary -- would be to -- it would be to make sure that money that's
set aside for, you know, some of these regulations for retooling --
because retooling would be an additional expense. And so, we were
helping them use that money up front. But quite frankly, there's got
to be a major change in management of the big three before I'm
inclined to vote for it.
EBERT: Senator Grassley, even though the Republicans are in the
minority, you know, in the legislature and then lost the White House,
you still have, you know, the Senate, the more than the 40 votes for
the filibuster. Have you met with your fellow Republican senators who
will be serving next term? And at what point will you agree with the
Obama administration, and at what points do you have concern about
some of their agenda items?
GRASSLEY: Yes, that's a pretty big question, so maybe you'll
have to follow-up. But anyway, first of all, we may have -- we'll
have at least 40. That's all we have. The Democrats are going to
have complete control of all three branches. If we have 41 or 42,
then it depends upon the extent to which Republicans stick together.
And on substance of an issue, it's pretty difficult to predict what
Republicans will stick or not.
But there is a procedural process by which we've had enough
Republicans, assuming that we still have 41 at least, signed a letter
saying that we expected to be able to offer Republican amendments. So
on a procedural process, at least let the Democrats let us have part
of the debate. I think we ought to be able to stick together on that.
And if we do stick together on that, then I think we'll have some
strength. But if we have 40 or less and if we don't stick together,
then as I said, the Democrats for the first time since 1976 have
complete control of everything.
Then when we do have a role, whether it's a lesser or more of a
role, depending on those numbers, I've got to see myself as a member
of loyal opposition, and loyal opposition with emphasis upon loyal.
When you can go along in a bipartisan way, do it. Help develop a
bipartisan approach. And if you don't have the strength to do that,
then you've got the responsibility of offering a legitimate,
responsible alternative so that the two-party system plays its role.
But most of the time you'll find cooperation because most of
these issues tend to be more bipartisan. If I name one or two things
that I'm scared about, I'm scared about a stimulus package that's just
spending money. I think we need some tax policy to encourage
investment because stimulus is short-term. Tax policy, encouraging
investment is long-term.
And then maybe just one other issue, although I probably ought to
take time to give you 10 or 15 issues. One would be card check where
you do away with the secret ballot in determining whether unions ought
to organize a workforce.
PETERSON: Senator, as many people are traveling this
Thanksgiving weekend, they'll note that gas prices, at least in our
part of the Midwest, have fallen below $2 a gallon. How long do you
expect these gas prices to remain below that threshold? And do you
foresee gas prices going up anywhere, you know, near to what it was as
we get closer to Christmas?
GRASSLEY: They might go up a little bit for the holidays. But I
think we're in low gas prices through the worldwide recession that
we're in. And I want to emphasize worldwide because if people think
it's just America that's screwed up, it isn't. It's the whole world.
And we're all in recession, even growth in the under-developed nations
is going to be a lot less than what was intended.
And so, I expect it to be $4 again sometime, but not until we get
out of the recession. In the meantime, on an annual basis, consumers
are going to have about $210 billion to spend on other things. And I
hope that they'll spend it responsibly. And for people that are
concerned about China bailing us out, if every consumer would buy
American and not buy Chinese or buy from some other country other than
China, it would help a lot and it would send a strong signal to the
Chinese that we are not totally dependent upon them.
EBERT: Senator, as we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I was
just wondering, if you take a look back in the last year, even though
it's been tough times for the United States, what things are you
thankful for as we enter tomorrow?
GRASSLEY: Well, the most important thing to be thankful for is
the freedoms we enjoy, and particularly men and women in uniform who
are overseas protecting us against people that want to kill us,
meaning right now terrorists, and fortunate about that. And to have
family that's healthy.
PETERSON: Finally, Senator, along those same lines, how would
you describe the mood in this country right now as compared to past
Thanksgivings over the last few years? With the economy the way it
is, do you think people are in much of a mood to celebrate
Thanksgiving?
GRASSLEY: Well, I think in Iowa the economy has not turned down
as much as it has other places. And I think that there's a pretty
good feeling about Iowa. But I think that there's a lot of doubt.
There's cynicism. And there is questioning about the unknown. So
it's kind of a depressed sort of feeling on the American people as a
whole.
Now, do I get that in talking to them? No, I get that from
statistics, people not buying, people being very cautious, statistics
making them, you know, negative when almost every statistical report
on the economy that comes out tends to be negative. And so, that's
where I find the people.
But I think that there is still great faith in the American
people. And quite frankly, we would have to say that for those that
have been laid off, lost jobs, the situation is more negative than for
those that still have jobs.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Mike and Rusty, for participating in
today's public affairs program. This has been Senator Chuck Grassley
reporting to the people of Iowa.
EBERT: Thank you, Senator Grassley.
GRASSLEY: Yes, thanks to both of you. And Happy Thanksgiving.