The Hawkeye on the Hill
Talking straight. Grassley's aw-shucks manner and reputation as a straight shooter have also allowed him to pursue a famous streak of independence--even from the White House. In 1991, when the first President Bush was in office, Grassley was one of just two Republican senators to vote against the resolution authorizing the first Persian Gulf War. He supported the war this time around but has not hesitated to disagree with George W. Bush. When Bush announced in January that he would seek a $726 billion tax cut, Grassley responded almost offhandedly that the reality was likely to be about half that. After five months of wrangling, the bill the president signed came in at $350 billion. More recently, Bush was insisting that the Medicare restructuring encourage beneficiaries to opt out of the traditional program by providing better drug benefits under the private health plans. Grassley countered that benefits in traditional Medicare and the new managed-care option should be the same. What's emerging from Capitol Hill will most likely reflect the Grassley view.
Grassley also succeeds because he never forgets who he works for. In the Medicare fight, for instance, he is struggling to increase Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and doctors in rural states like Iowa, which ranks 50th among states in the level of Medicare reimbursements. Taking care of constituents has paid off at the ballot box. Grassley garnered 68 percent of the vote in his last election, and he has already made clear that he intends to seek a fifth term in 2004. "The Democrats don't have anybody good to throw at him, and even if they did, he would be awfully hard to beat," says Squire of the University of Iowa. Which, of course, does not mean they are not going to try. "He's undoubtedly had the worst few months of his political career," says Gordon Fischer, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, arguing that Bush's tax cuts may not play well in generally liberal Iowa. Fischer is also counting on the Medicare reimbursement issue to give his party some traction against Grassley. "He's gone from untouchable to mortal," Fischer contends.
Grassley, of course, would deny that he was ever unbeatable. "If I thought I couldn't be beat, then I'd be beat," he says. It's the kind of thing you'd expect an old hog farmer to say.
BIO
"The thing about oversight is that you could do it yourself."
BORN Sept. 17, 1933
FAMILY Married. Five children, nine grandchildren.
EDUCATION Bachelor's and master's degrees, University of Northern Iowa.
PUBLIC SERVICE Iowa House 1959-75; U.S. House, 1975-81; U.S. Senate, 1981-present.
advertisement
