During a town hall in Fort Madison, Iowa on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked about his support for President Trump.
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00:00I just want to know if you're proud of voting for Trump and what he's doing in office.
00:09Are you proud about everything he's doing right now?
00:14There's no president that I've agreed with 100%.
00:17I didn't say that.
00:18I said, are you proud that he's in there?
00:21Well, first of all, Senator Grassley, I want to thank you for coming today because our
00:26Representative Miller-Meech seems to be hiding in a closet.
00:29I have a concern about the veterans and the pets that they are proposing to do, one of
00:49which is de-staffing the crisis hotline for veterans.
00:55Eighteen veterans commit suicide every single day in the history.
01:00My husband is a veteran.
01:01He has been exposed to Agent Orange, and his health is very poor because of that.
01:11And he has actually said out loud he wished he could die at times, and he has had to go
01:18through PTSD counseling I cannot tell you how many times.
01:21So I do not understand how the Republican Party can say, we're supporting our veterans when
01:28they are going to do something like cut the crisis hotline.
01:31That is unacceptable.
01:33That is just, it's unbelievable to even think that they would do that.
01:37This is something that veterans rely on.
01:39They are cutting staff, and a lot of that staff that is being cut is PTSD counselors.
01:45So my question is, what is your plan to assure that the veteran hotline remains staffed adequately,
01:53and that veterans are supported rather than harmed by Republican legislation?
01:58When Congressman Boswell was in Congress from Southwest Iowa, and this would go back to about 2008 or 2009, I believe,
02:11he and I sponsored the first 800 number for veterans to call.
02:16And the reason we did it was because of the person in Grundy Center, Iowa, that committed suicide
02:23in front of his mother in the kitchens, and we named the bill after that veteran, as an example.
02:32So that ought to tell you that I'm for maintaining the...
02:35But what are you going to do about that as far as, you know, proposing legislation
02:41or talking to the other members of Congress or the President and saying, this is wrong.
02:47These cuts are wrong.
02:48We have to support our veterans.
02:51They need more help rather than...
02:53They want to cut 83,000 employees.
02:56Yeah, yeah.
02:57And they cut in the first five weeks of Trump when he fired all those federal employees.
03:036,000 of those employees that were fired were veterans.
03:07And a lot of the veterans, there are many veterans are the ones that manage those hotline calls.
03:14And so are they getting fired too?
03:16Who's going to answer these calls?
03:19These men and women serve our country.
03:23They put their lives on the line.
03:29I have a question in reference...
03:30I hope I answered your question by saying...
03:34We appreciate your support, but we want to know what you can do to stop this legislation.
03:43I can do everything you suggested in your question.
03:47Next slide.