Senator Chuck Grassley speaking to you live from his farm in New
Hartford. Participating in today's public affairs program are Glenn
Kiss (ph) with KIOW Radio in Forest City and Joe Benedict with the
Fort Madison Daily Democrat in Fort Madison.
The first question will be from Glenn Kiss (ph).
QUESTION: As always, Senator Grassley, it's an honor to speak with you. And happy holidays.
GRASSLEY: Yes. And happy holidays to you, of course.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
I was wondering if you'd be willing to comment on Former Governor
Vilsack's appointment as secretary of agriculture.
GRASSLEY: Yes. I'll probably be relaying to you a lot of the
same things I've said to press otherwise. First of all, it's a
surprise announce and I wouldn't even be surprised if it was a real
surprise at the last minute to Governor Vilsack.
But, anyway, you know, maybe two weeks after he was prominently
mentioned and he issued a report that he wasn't being considered, and
I was elated and the first place and disappointed in the second. So,
obviously, I'm elated now.
You know, that might surprise you because I'm a Republican and
he's a Democrat. But we have a Democrat president. We're going to
have mostly Democrats in the -- in the Cabinet. And I look at it this
way: As being good for Iowa because the more Iowans we can get at the
table, the better. I look at it as good for the institution of the
family farm because oftentimes we get people from the south or from
California that are secretaries of agriculture, and I don't think they
appreciate that in the Midwest about 95 percent of all the food is
produced by people within the family and not a lot of managers and
absentee landlords and things of that nature producing our food with
hired labor.
And then generally, I think it has to be good for agriculture
generally. And then good for a lot of new things we're moving into.
The Department of Agriculture being more aggressive in economic
development and the whole biofuels program that is -- agriculture is
in the middle of.
So good, good, good.
QUESTION: Good. Thank you.
QUESTION: All right. Senator, it's nice to speak to you this
morning.
GRASSLEY: Sure. Thank you for being on the program.
QUESTION: Sure. I have more of a local question for Lee County.
GRASSLEY: Sure. Go ahead. I hope I can answer it.
QUESTION: I hope so. Fort Madison and West Point and Lee County
have a -- are trying to build an interchange at the -- at the bypass
to Fort Madison and there's a bill in Congress that would send a
million dollars for that project. Do you know where that's at and the
likelihood of it being passed?
GRASSLEY: Well, there's several be possibilities. One is we
have an annual appropriation bill for transportation.
QUESTION: OK.
GRASSLEY: And -- and what we have done for -- until March 1st
is, since October, we've been operating under a continuing resolution.
So that money could be in a permanent appropriation bill that will be
coming up, probably, during the month of February, which would be a
continuation beyond March.
Then -- we also have a five-year, or it could even be a six-year
reauthorization of highway programs which we last did, I think, in the
year 2005 and it runs out next year. So in 2009, we have to be
working on another five-year bill that would authorize a program. It
would still have to be appropriated annually.
But that amount of money could be cleared in one year if the
figure you gave me is accurate. And then there is still another
possibility that would be coming up during the Monday of January. But
I don't know if it would be a part of the stimulus package except
indirectly that there's going to be a lot of money for highways in the
stimulus package which means maybe 50, $60 billion over the next two
years directly in the highway programs.
Now, if that money goes out according to state formula, as has
existed under the 2005 authorization bill, instead of specific
programs, then it would go to aims and the highway department would
have to decide, well, is the one in Fort Madison a priority for that.
And I couldn't answer that question for you. But those are the
three possibilities for funding.
QUESTION: All right. Thank you.
QUESTION: Senator Grassley, it's the holiday season and we
haven't got past Christmas yet. But it's been a really rough year for
the country. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share your New
Year outlook for your constituents.
GRASSLEY: Well, we're going to continue in recession for a few
months into 2009, but I believe that, with a stimulus package and what
the Federal Reserve is doing to break the credit crunch -- and
remember, this isn't just a U.S. problem. This is a worldwide
problem. I think we can get things turned around.
Actually, there's enough money to turn things around, but people
don't have confidence so they aren't spending and they aren't
borrowing. And people that loan aren't loaning. So things are just
kind of tightened up. Again, not only in the United States but
worldwide. In fact, Germany is getting pushed by other European
countries to do more because they're playing it just a little bit
conservative and safe, as Germans tend to do.
In the United States, I don't think we're playing it safe and
conservative. I think we're doing everything we can to reestablish
confidence. And I think it will be done. I'd like to give you the
positive note though from just history. We have gone through
recessions before. Maybe this is the worst since 1981, '82. But
we've gone through them. Not as much in the last 25 years as we did
maybe for 50 years before that. You know, we used to average a
recession about every three years. Lately we've been averaging a
recession about every ten years.
But we have a very dynamic system. We have a very strong
economy. The United States could come out of this stronger than we've
ever been from the standpoint that maybe we'll become more of a saving
nation as opposed to a consuming nation and build up our economy at a
higher plateau and take off and end up better than we have ever been.
I have that confidence because, for 225 years, each generation
has been doing better than the previous generation.
QUESTION: What are your feelings on the auto bailout?
GRASSLEY: Well, if we could get the companies committed to heavy
restructuring, renegotiating contracts, I could possibly be for it.
But without commitments from management, stockholders, and the workers
through their unions to do a total restructuring so when we invest
taxpayer's money, we know that we're going to be competitive against a
lot of other competition where costs are lower, you know, then I'm not
going to -- only under those circumstances am I going to throw
taxpayer money into the pot.
And I'd do it just as a loan. And I would take stock to protect
our taxpayers and expect the money to be paid back. But I've seen a
lethargy on the part of management and workers to make these dramatic
changes. And so, consequently, I voted as I did last week.
QUESTION: Thank you, Governor -- thank you, Senator.
What industry might be next that we should be concerned about as
far bailouts and troubles?
GRASSLEY: Well, that takes me back to the previous question I
just answered about autos. You know, people might wonder, well, why
were we so willing to help banks and people that were having their
homes foreclosed on. Because there was a lot of toxic paper there and
it was keeping good credit from flowing through the pipeline. And so
I see the original help as opposed to the car makers as a macro
approach to helping the entire economy.
And by helping the entire economy, you help the automobile people
by loosening credit so people could buy cars which they are doing now.
Whereas, getting back to your question, when you start helping the
auto industry, that's not a macro approach; that's a micro approach.
And where does it stop?
And that's probably an overriding reason not to help one industry
versus the other because where do you stop. And a lot of it is
related to the political power of certain industries versus others.
And so what gets lost in this whole thing is Main Street America. And
by helping in a macro way through loosening up credit for helping the
entire country, Main Street is as important as Wall Street, let's Sam.
So I guess my answer to your question is I don't know where it
ends once you start down that road. And that's why I think we need to
be cautious about what we do. And that's why I was demanding so much
from car makers.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Glenn and Joe, for participating in
today's public affairs program.
GRASSLEY: Now, merry Christmas, happy holidays to all of you.
QUESTION: Merry Christmas to you, Senator.