US Senator Chuck Grassley is in Iowa over the Senate’s Easter Recess, and has been visiting several counties, including Greene, Guthrie and Adair on Thursday.

Grassley’s first stop was in Greene County at the Thomas Jefferson Gardens in Jefferson where about 60 people attended with the premise being about small business owners. Some of the topics that were discussed included the tax reconciliation bill to continue the 2017 tax bill, tariffs impacting small businesses and farmers, concerns about what authorities each level of the three branches of federal government has to keep each other in check, and the universal in-conjunction bill with the federal court system. There were also about a dozen protesters outside of the venue about various different causes. He also acknowledged the Great American Main Street Award received by Jefferson Matters.

Grassley then traveled to Guthrie Center, where he spoke with and answered questions from Adair – Casey / Guthrie Center High School students. When asked why stopping at schools and speaking with students mattered to him, he had this to say.

“What’s really important is to make government real to them. I can’t do as good of a job of teaching them government in an hour, that the teacher can do in a year, but I hope I would supplement what the teacher has, that the teacher can say, the materials that the teacher gives to the students, so that they can have a better appreciation on the process of representative government, and really so they have an appreciation of their role in it. There’s a lot of constitutional rights they have that they can make their voice heard and maybe make a real difference as a result of it.”

Students asked several questions including; “Do you enjoy the Senate? What’s annoying about Congress? What are your typical hours throughout the day as a Senator?” He told students that some interesting people he’s met include Queen Elizabeth when she visited the Capitol Building and the President of Egypt, and that some of his legislative priorities for this session include getting a new Farm Bill passed, reducing prescription prices and recapturing Congress’s power over tariffs from the President.

Grassley also made a stop in Stuart in Adair County, where he talked with several business owners.