WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, today said that revelations about additional private email address use and potentially improper management of public records requests at the State Department elevate concerns of inadequate compliance with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Grassley wrote to Secretary of...
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, leaders of the Caucus on Foster Youth, today announced a panel discussion on the need for trauma informed care for foster youth. These young people may have experienced abuse and neglect before entering the foster care system and need care from professionals who have been trained to...
Floor Statement of Sen. Chuck GrassleyConsideration of Trade Promotion Authority LegislationThursday, May 21, 2015Free trade is very important to our country and to our future economic prosperity. Anyone who does not believe that is in denial in my opinion. We live in a global economy and we need to lead on the issue of free trade. We must...
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island have introduced a bill to give states more flexibility to use federal funds to support foster youth aging out of the system.“A lot of good ideas come from the state level,” Grassley said. “States ought to be encouraged to continue their innovative...
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced legislation creating an Inspector General for the judicial branch to provide greater oversight and uphold the constitutional checks and balances on the federal judiciary. The Judicial Transparency and Ethics Enhancement Act would establish an independent office to investigate...
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy of Vermont are calling for a detailed accounting of the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on lawsuits that stem from information wrongly withheld under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Senators requested the Government Accountability...
Whistleblower: Man Kept Job for Months after Immigration Officials Flagged Investigation
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa is asking how much the Department of Homeland Security knew about a camp counselor who allegedly was granted deferred deportation action under the President’s immigration executive order, and...
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is pressing the Justice Department and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to describe any action they are taking to prevent fraud in federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Grassley’s action comes amid findings that the federal government has overpaid the plans and whistleblower lawsuits alleging the...
Floor Statement of Sen. Chuck GrassleyChain Restaurants, Chicken Producers Smear Homegrown BiofuelsDelivered Wednesday, May 20, 2015While reading through the pages of the Wall Street Journal late last week, I was overcome by a sense of déjà vu. Once again, chain restaurants and chicken producers are teaming up to smear homegrown biofuels producers at...
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking the IRS commissioner to explain how and why the agency uses discretion to avoid terminating employees for willful violations of tax law.
“Willful violation of tax law is a serious offense and the presumption is an employee guilty of the offense shall be terminated,” Grassley wrote to IRS Commissioner John...
Sen. Chuck Grassley today made the following comment on an audit released today that shows a number of Pentagon employees used their government charge cards at casinos and strip clubs. The audit came about because of Grassley’s bill enacted in 2012 requiring federal agencies to beef up the oversight of purchases on government-issued credit cards....
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following comment after the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act passed the House of Representatives. The Senate cleared the bill on April 22, by a vote of 99 to 0. As Chairman, Grassley shepherded the bill through the committee, which passed on March 2, by a 19 to 0 vote.The bill...
Statement by Senator Chuck GrassleyFinance Committee Hearing“No Place to Grow Up: How to Safely Reduce Reliance on Foster Care Group Homes”Tuesday, May 19, 2015Today, the Senate Finance Committee will hear testimony on the need to reduce the reliance on foster care group homes. The basic premise of this hearing is simple: children...
Approximately 23,000 youth age out of the foster care system each year. For youth who age out of the foster care system, finding reliable and secure housing is one of their biggest challenges. Of these youth, approximately 11 percent to 36 percent become homeless, while another 25 percent to 50 percent...
Senators reintroduced bill to make it easier to prosecute the sale and distribution of “analogue” drugs, which are synthetic substances that are substantially similar to illegal drugs Current law makes it difficult to prosecute new synthetic drugs as analogues, because they are often not marketed as intended for human consumption despite...
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is pressing the Department of Health and Human Services to implement recommendations that would save taxpayer money and stop problems including Medicare payments to prisoners and safety risks to children in Head Start programs.
“Agency watchdogs spend a lot of time and effort coming up with recommendations to save taxpayer...
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa today released the following statement regarding a proposal being marked up Thursday by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science that would eliminate funding for juvenile justice intervention programs.“Juvenile justice intervention programs are...
WASHINGTON—Sen. Chuck Grassley this week joined a bipartisan letter calling on the Federal Communications Commission to address outdated broadband rules that negatively impact rural consumers.
The current rules prevent rural consumers from having access to choices that are available in urban areas. In most cases, rural customers are required to...
Prepared Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of IowaChairman, Senate Judiciary CommitteeCommemorating National Police WeekMay 13, 2015Mr. President, this week, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to commemorate National Police Week, which this year began on Monday, May 10th, and ends on Saturday, May 16th. Senator Leahy and 32 others have joined...
