By Beacon Staff
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa paid Mediapolis a visit Tuesday afternoon, taking a stroll down Main Street with Mayor Tom Young and other local notables.
Before braving the heat under the cover of an orange Mediapolis Bulldogs baseball cap, Grassley took questions inside the air-conditioned city hall. Later, during his Main Street tour, the senator visited Jilly’s Coffee and Cakes.
The senator stayed in town for more than an hour, answering a variety of questions.
On Monday, Grassley, 86, announced he wouldn’t be attending the Republican convention for the first time in more than 30 years due to concerns over the coronavirus.
“My wife is going to miss it more than I am,” he said with a grin.
Grassley arrived at the city hall building with a mask covering his face. When he saw hardly anyone else in the room was wearing one, he quickly took it off, noting there were six feet of distance between him and the audience.
He put the mask back on while touring Main Street.
“When you get to be 80, you have to be a little cautious. We are considered by epidemiologists to be in that dangerous area. I don’t feel dangerous, but you have to take precautions.”
Young, who got the ball rolling on Grassley’s visit by remarking to one of the senators aides that it would be nice to see him sometime, asked several questions.
Young was curious about the $600 bonus going to the unemployed during the pandemic, asking why his son, who works at McDonald’s, didn’t get a bonus for going back to work during the pandemic.
Grassley said that money was essential to opening the country back up since millions of people had been put out of work by the nationwide shutdown.
“There were 40 million people who weren’t working because of what we did. They already had jobs. The best employment in 50 years,” he said.
Grassley said it would have made more sense to give workers in larger states like New York, where the cost of living is higher, more money, than in states like Iowa. In the end, he said, a flat rate was more feasible.
“If we did that state-by-state, the money never would have gone out. You know why? Because the computer system in the 50 states goes back to the ice age. They just couldn’t accommodate it,” he said.
Photo by William Smith
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, sporting a Mediapolis Bulldogs baseball cap, is shown Tuesday. The senator was visiting the city to talk to constituents.