NOTEBOOK: How to eat 10,000 marshmallows, and other wisdom from Sen. Chuck Grassley
JOE GARDYASZ May 2, 2019 | 4:08 pm
1 min read time
286 wordsArts and Culture, Business Record Insider, Government Policy and Law, The Insider Notebook
During a question-answer session with insurance industry professionals at the end of last week’s Global Insurance Symposium, Sen. Chuck Grassley had a few memorable lines, turning on the folksy Iowa charm as he does best.
On the political divide:
There’s not as much partisanship in Washington as you might think, because controversy makes news, Grassley said. “So you get a distorted view of it. Look at the legislation that got out of [the Judiciary Committee] in four years. Sixty-one bills got out of committee — they were all bipartisan bills — and 45 of them got through the Senate and 34 of them were signed by either a Republican or Democrat president.” One of those bills, the biggest sentencing reform legislation in a generation, was approved by 87 senators, he noted.
On engaging in the legislative process:
“ … you’ve got a constitutional right to talk to those of us who are elected officials, and we’ve got a constitutional responsibility to consider your point of view. Now some of you might think we have a constitutional responsibility to do just exactly what you tell us to do. It doesn’t go quite that far.”
How to get along in Congress:
“I can’t think of a single senator I dislike, and if somebody dislikes me I don’t even want to know who it is. So it’s got to start with each senator working with other people. … How do you eat 10,000 marshmallows? One at a time. How do you get things done? Talking to one senator at a time.”
On the weather in Iowa:
“Be glad you’re [visiting Des Moines] now. Our winters aren’t that good. Don’t tell the chamber of commerce I said that.”