ELDON —
Frustrated, hopeful and grateful were some of the attitudes that Sen. Chuck Grassley encountered at a town hall meeting Tuesday. On occasion, all those feelings seemed to come from the same resident.
Subjects were wide ranging, though unemployment and immigration came up multiple times.
One man, a member of both a union and the Tea Party, said he was concerned of the connection between immigration and unemployment.
At a time when unemployment is sky high, he said, what are we doing allowing a million legal immigrants and 10 million illegal immigrants into this country? Citizens need an opportunity to work, the man said.
Grassley said there are answers, including options that members of both parties agree on. A guest worker program would allow immigrants to come into the United States when needed in a job field experiencing worker shortages. There needs to be an improved system of border security. And enforcing laws that prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants would make a difference, too.
But as to why there is not a comprehensive immigration plan comes down to one word, and you may not want to hear the answer, Grassley said.
“Amnesty.”
In 1986, he voted to allow it. The federal government tried it, and it didn’t work. He is now against it.
“You legalize illegality, and you get more of it,” he said.
Though controversial, there is discussion, Grassley said, of a “national ID” that each citizen would carry with them.
One man said he hoped that more items for Americans would be made by Americans. It’s a bit disheartening, he explained, to go to his job helping his fellow citizens, put on his FEMA jacket and see it was made in a foreign country.
But there’s more to this story, said Grassley, than being patriotic. As a member of the World Trade Organization, we expect other countries to buy products made in the USA. To be fair, we need to follow the rules and be willing to buy products made elsewhere.
“Americans make up 4 percent of the world population,” the senator said, “so if we want to prosper, we have to sell outside our borders.”
To sell outside our borders, we need to buy outside our borders — or at least not make laws forbidding the purchase of foreign-made products.
We export soybeans, he said. If China, for example, were to tell the United States they will only buy Chinese soybeans, more Americans would lose their jobs.
One place would be OK to cut jobs, another man said — in the federal government. Grassley said there are more federal employees now than before this president took office.
Other subjects discussed with the senator included a request for assistance from a contractor owed money by the federal government, suspicion that people from other countries are collecting social security even though they never paid in, concern over social security and the arbitrary way Washington picks and chooses which laws to enforce.
Grassley was thanked repeatedly for coming to Agency rather than one of the bigger towns and for being willing to listen. He told them the Senate leadership said they wouldn’t be meeting the first few weeks of August.
Besides, he quipped, “you don’t have to thank me — I get paid to be here.”
CNHI/Southeast Iowa
Grassley peppered on immigration, unemployment in Eldon town hall meeting
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