Oversight
CBO: National Debt to Reach Record Share of GDP in Just Three Years
WASHINGTON - Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today issued a statement on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)’s new 10-year budget and economic outlook. “Congressional Democrats and the White House ought to read this report cover to cover. After reviewing the data, it’d be unthinkable for anyone to consider continuing down the current fiscal path,” Grassley said. “The Biden administration has saddled generations of Americans with inflationary conditions and astr… Continue Reading
06.12.24
Grassley Opening Remarks on Tax Loopholes
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee Hearing titled, “Making Wall Street Pay Its Fair Share: Raising Revenue, Strengthening Our Economy” Wednesday, June 12, 2024 VIDEO Mr. Chairman, Initially, I thought today’s hearing related to federal revenues was a nice change of pace, particularly when compared to the 19 hearings we’ve had in this committee on global warming. As I said last year at our first hearing concerning tax issu… Continue Reading
06.05.24
Grassley Underscores Need to Tackle $34.5 Trillion Debt, Exploding Interest Rates
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee Hearing titled, “Riskier Business: How Climate is Already Challenging Insurance Markets” Wednesday, June 5, 2024 VIDEO If the federal government is going to remain ready to respond to natural disasters and national emergencies, wehave to have the capabilityof doing that.It seems that begs the need to put the nation’s fiscal house in order. Yet, even with interest on our national debt, set t… Continue Reading
05.22.24
Grassley: ‘We Iowans prefer to confront problems head on’
Opening Statement by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “Droughts, Dollars and Decisions: Water Scarcity in a Changing Climate” Wednesday, May 22, 2024 VIDEO Mr. Chairman,Ithank you for recognizing the tragedy that happened in Greenfield, Iowa. If you werewatching morning television that’s national, you would have seen it on television this very morning. So before we start, since the Senate is in session and I can’t be in Iowa, I want to share th… Continue Reading
05.15.24
Grassley Delivers Opening Statement on National Security Risks Posed by Ballooning Debt
Opening Statement by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “Budgeting for the Storm: Climate Change and the Costs to National Security” Wednesday, May 15, 2024 VIDEO Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is the Budget Committee’s 17th hearing on climate change this Congress, but it is the first with a national security angle. Everyone knows that national security is the number one responsibility of the federal government under our constitution. … Continue Reading
05.08.24
Grassley Opening Statement on Reducing Administrative Burdens, Improving Patient Access and Lowering Taxpayer Costs in Health Care
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “Reducing Paperwork, Cutting Costs: Alleviating Administrative Burdens in Health Care” Wednesday, May 8, 2024 VIDEO Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing on reducing administrative burdens in health care. Our country spends more than 4.5 trillion dollars annually on health care. Our spending has more than tripled as a percentage of gross domestic product since 1960. Growing health c… Continue Reading
05.02.24
Wall Street Journal Sides with Iowans: The Budget Committee Ought to Focus on the Budget
WASHINGTON - The Wall Street Journal amplified concerns Iowans are sharing at Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) 99 county meetings regarding our nation’s budgetary crisis. In a recent column discussing the “bizarre” climate agenda set by the Senate Budget Committee’s Democrat majority, the Wall Street Journal emphasized Iowans’ rightful frustration with Washington, D.C.’s refusal to focus on budgetary reform. Grassley, the Senate Budget Committee’s Ranking Member, recently led Budget Republicans i… Continue Reading
05.01.24
Grassley Opening Statement at Budget Hearing on Big Oil
Prepared Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee Hearing on “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change” Wednesday, May 1, 2024 VIDEO Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start by airing some disappointments I have regarding the process of this hearing and underlying documents. When I was Chairman of the Finance Committee, during my Biden investigation, I ensured that R… Continue Reading
04.15.24
Saving Social Security Shouldn’t Be Political Kryptonite
by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
During my first term in the U.S. Senate, Congress and the White House tackled what then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill had dubbed the third rail of politics: Social Security. That’s because those who spoke up about Social Security’s finances invariably learned the topic was political kryptonite. But President Ronald Reagan and Speaker O’Neill changed the narrative. By working together in good faith and across the aisle to save Social Security from insolvency, they showed Washington can solve problem… Continue Reading
04.12.24
What They Are Saying: Washington Wakes Up to Senate Budget Republicans’ Case for Fiscal Focus
WASHINGTON - Senate Budget Committee Republicans’ push to reorient the committee’s focus to fiscal matters is taking hold in Washington. Under Democratic leadership, the Budget Committee this Congress has held 15 hearings on the climate and just three directly on the budget. Republicans received kudos for their letter this week pushing back on the committee’s misguided trajectory. “Witness the amazing debate now under way at the Senate Budget Committee, where Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.… Continue Reading
04.10.24
Grassley Provides Insight on Efforts to Snuff Out Tax Evasion
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “Sunny Places for Shady People: Offshore Tax Evasion by the Wealthy and Corporations” Wednesday, April 10, 2024 VIDEO Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your holding today’s hearing on offshore tax evasion and closing the tax gap.I have some experience in this area. Talking about the tax gap, I remember how my late friend and former Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch used to refer to the tax gap… Continue Reading
04.09.24
Grassley Leads GOP Call For Budget Committee To Address Fiscal Policy
WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and eight Senate Budget Committee Republicans shared with Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) pressing facts about the U.S. economic outlook, calling on him and majority committee members to focus on fiscal matters. Under Democrat leadership, the committee this Congress has convened 15 hearings on climate and just three on the budget. The minority members’ correspondence - in response to a letter from Chairman Whitehouse - is a concerted effor… Continue Reading
04.02.24
Penn Wharton Hearing Witness: Dem Tax Proposals Won’t Solve Our Fiscal Challenges
BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA - Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released responses Dr. Joao Gomes submitted for the record after serving as a minority witness at a hearing titled “Recreation at Risk: The Nature of Climate Costs.” Gomes is a senior vice dean at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, which administers the widely respected, nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model. “Dr. Gomes’ answers to my questions offer a blunt analysis of our nation’s economic t… Continue Reading
03.20.24
Grassley: Budget Democrats Use Climate Change Smoke and Mirrors to Ignore Our Immediate Responsibilities
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “Recreation at Risk: The Nature of Climate Costs” Wednesday, March 20, 2024 VIDEO Last week, Senator Romney said the truth out loud - there is “no work being done by this committee to deal with our budget and to deal with federal spending.” Senator Romney also said, “This committee needs to stop acting for the cameras and start working for the American people to finally deal with the massive d… Continue Reading
03.19.24
Grassley: Biden Admin’s EV Push Could Drive up the Deficit by $200 Billion
WASHINGTON - Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is amplifying his opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tailpipe emissions proposal, citing an alarming new cost estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). “The CBO released its ten-year budget and economic outlook on February 7, 2024, which projected a $224 billion increase in the cumulative deficit caused by higher electric vehicle tax credit claims and reduced gas tax revenues.… Continue Reading
03.12.24
Grassley: Biden’s Budget Offers False Promises and a Far-Left Wish List
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee “The President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal” Tuesday, March 12, 2024 VIDEO Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and thank you, Director Young, for coming to give the position of the administration on the budget. Today’s hearing is doing what the Budget Committee’s supposed to do: budget issues. We’ve spent a great deal of time over the last year on climate, on abortion and a … Continue Reading
03.11.24
Grassley Redlines President Biden’s Budget Proposal
WASHINGTON - Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued the below statement on President Biden’s costly Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget released today, over a month past its statutory due date. “President Biden’s FY 2025 budget is chock full of corner-cutting to circumvent congressional spending caps and presents short-sighted plans to burn through Americans’ pocketbooks. That combination is sure to yield severe long-term consequences. “This administration’s irresponsib… Continue Reading
03.06.24
Grassley Discusses Efforts To Make Primary Care More Accessible And Effective
Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee Hearing on “How Primary Care Improves Health Care Efficiency” Wednesday, March 6, 2024 VIDEO Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing on strengthening primary care. Americans spend more than 4.3 trillion dollars annually on health care. Our spending has more than tripled as a percentage of gross domestic product since 1960. Growing health care costs don’t just strain Americans’ p… Continue Reading
02.28.24
'Life is Priceless:' Ranking Member Grassley Delivers Pro-Life, Pro-Family Message at Budget Committee Hearing
Prepared Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Ranking Member, Senate Budget Committee Hearing on “No Rights to Speak of: The Economic Harms of Restricting Reproductive Freedom” Wednesday, February 28, 2024 VIDEO Good morning, Mr. Chairman. We’re tackling a very serious topic this morning. Abortion is above all a moral and legal issue. It’s not an issue that lends itself to being looked at solely through an economic lens. After all, life is priceless. There’s a reason… Continue Reading
02.22.24
Grassley Report Exposes Unchecked Waste of Taxpayer Funds in EPA Environmental Justice Program
BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA - Millions of taxpayer dollars funneled through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program were largely used by recipient organizations to cover the organizations’ overhead and operating expenses, without yet producing tangible results demonstrating the efficacy of the environmental justice program. Records and receipts tracking expenditures in the EPA’s 2021 Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program, released to… Continue Reading
