Political Quotes

“Madam President, as many Iowans know, I made a practice of holding townhall meetings in each of the 99 counties of my State every year. It has become known in the media as a ``Full Grassley.'' That is not something I named it. That is something someone else named it. It is kind of a flattering name, but in some ways it does not make sense because the townhalls are not about Senator Grassley. They are about hearing from Iowans whom I am proud to serve. They are about hearing about the real problems my constituents have, and, of course, from our end, trying to find practical solutions to those problems. That is what I work on every day. I suppose all of my colleagues would say that is what they work on every day. On many occasions at my townhall meetings in recent years, Iowans have asked me why the Senate never gets anything done. Both parties probably shoulder some of the blame for this attitude out there at the grassroots, but the reality is that the most obvious, the most glaring, the most unmistakable reason for the Senate's recent paralysis is the way Democratic Leader Reid ran it before he was toppled as majority leader. When the Democratic leader was in control of the Senate, he was the one who decided not to empower his committee chairs to craft and advance bipartisan legislation. He decided not to give all Members, Republican and Democratic alike, a real opportunity to participate in the process.…”