Grassley talks midterms, SAVE Act, inflation in Creston visit

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley took advantage of the Senate’s recess earlier this week to meet with constituents in Southwest Iowa, including a stop at Creston’s Precision Optical Group Tuesday morning. This trip kicked of Grassley’s 45th annual tour of Iowa’s 99 counties, with Union County being the first county of 2026.

After a brief tour of Precision Optical Group, the home base of Grassley’s current pair of glasses, the Senator held a Q&A with laboratory employees and various other invited guests.

Midterms

An early topic of conversation was the upcoming midterms, with neither U.S. Senator Joni Ernst or Governor Kim Reynolds running for re-election. While Grassley endorsed U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson’s bid for Senate, he has yet to endorse a candidate for governor.

“I think we’ve got four candidates that are running for the Republican nomination, and I haven’t endorsed anybody at this point,” Grassley said. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but I hope whoever that nominee is can keep us from having another Democrat governor.”

Grassley said whoever becomes the next Iowa governor will hopefully continue cutting taxes, something he said Reynolds has been doing since she came into office in 2017.

SAVE Act

Questions were also asked about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a hot topic in the Senate. This legislation would change voter registration and voting across the country, requiring eligible voters to provide proof of citizenship, like a valid U.S. passport or a birth certificate and matching photo identification, when registering to vote.

Supporters say the goal is to ensure only U.S. citizens can vote. However, despite being a co-sponsor of the Senate’s bill, Grassley said noncitizens even registering to vote is rare.

“We had about 40 noncitizens register to vote and I guess a handful did vote,” Grassley said. “Maybe out millions of people voting, that’s not a big deal, but if you think about Miller-Meeks just getting elected by five votes...”

According to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, 277 noncitizens registered to vote in the 2024 presidential elections, but only 35 noncitizens cast ballots that were counted in the election.

Inflation

One employee asked Grassley about inflation, questioning why President Donald Trump said “Inflation is stopped,” in an Iowa speech in January when grocery prices were still high.

“The president should know that he shouldn’t say we got inflation under control. He should say, look at where it was at 9%. I’ve got it down to 2.6. We’re going to try to get it down more and things of that nature,” Grassley said. “He just isn’t careful enough how he explains it, so he leaves people to believe that he doesn’t have an understanding of your life and my life. I think he has a really good outlook for the average American, but his speaking doesn’t make that very clear.”

While Grassley said inflation certainly hasn’t stopped, it has gone down somewhat, and he believes the upcoming confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Chair of the Federal Reserve will help bring prices down even further.

Bipartisan relationships

Though more controversial topics tend to get the most coverage in national media, one attendee asked about the bipartisan bills and relationships going on in the Senate.

“I think people get the impression that Republicans don’t speak to Democrats and that’s just not true,” Grassley said. “I mean, there’s the most opposite of people I can talk to about issues almost anytime and once in a while sponsor a piece of legislation, like with [Adam] Schiff of California. He and I put a bill in a week ago.”

The bill, the Veterans Hearing Aid Improvement Act, aims to increase access to over-the-counter hearing aids for eligible veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Other visits

Following his time in Creston, Grassley visited Ringgold, Taylor, Adams and Page counties. Later in the week, Grassley also visited Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Fremont and Mills counties.

Description: U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley’s annual tour kicked off in Creston.