#Senator Chuck Grassley | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

filosofablogger · 3 months

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Say WHAT, Chuckie???

Isn’t it funny how easily Republicans slip up on their own hypocrisy??? They are all on about President Biden’s age, even though their own presumed nominee is only three years behind Biden and Biden is far more physically fit and mentally coherent. But then there’s Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa who is 90 years of age! And still just as obnoxious as ever! Now, say what you will, but I…

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#2017 tax cuts for the wealthy #bipartisan tax bill #congressional term limits #Senator Chuck Grassley #U.S. Senate

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minnesotafollower · 9 months

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Introduction of New Proposed Afghan Adjustment Act

On July 13, 2023, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (Dem, MN) with five co-sponsoring Democrat Senators and six co-sponsoring Republican Senators introduced a new proposed Afghan Adjustment Act (S.2327). The Democrat co-sponsors are Senators Coon (DE), Blumenthal (CT), Shaheen (NH), Durban (IL) and Menendez (NJ), and the Republican co-sponsors are Senators Graham (SC), Moran (KS), Mullin (OK),…

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#Afghan Adjustment Act #Afghanistan #Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks #Senator Amy Klobuchar #Senator Christopher Coons #Senator Chuck Grassley #Senator Jeanne Shaheen #Senator Jerry Moran #Senator Lindsey Graham #Senator Lisa Murkowski #Senator Markwayne Mullin #Senator Richard Blumenthal #Senator Richard Durbin #Senator Robert Menendez #Senator Roger Wicker #Senator Thom Tillis

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dadsinsuits · 6 months

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Chuck Grassley

#suitdaddy #suiteddaddy #suit and tie #suited daddy #men in suits #silverfox #suited grandpa #suitfetish #suitedman #suit daddy #suited men #suited man #buisness suit #suitedmen #americans #Republicans #us senate #Iowa #Chuck Grassley

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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For decades now, Ticketmaster has engendered bad blood from concertgoers angry over its fees but has managed to shake it off, growing into the largest ticketing company in America. But after crossing Taylor Swift fans, parent company Live Nation faced a Senate panel Tuesday intent on getting the company to admit, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Live Nation drew the ire of thousands of Swift fans in the fall, after its website crashed when tickets for Swift’s “Eras” tour went on sale. Swifties also decried huge swings in the tickets’ prices and painfully long wait times. A similar debacle afflicted ticket sales for a Bad Bunny concert in Mexico City. As Swift apologized to fans, Congress swore to hold hearings, and on Tuesday the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first.

Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation, a concert venue and promotions company, in 2010, creating a live events behemoth that controls nearly every aspect of putting on a show short of the singing and dancing. On Tuesday, Senators criticized how that vertical integration created a market-dominating powerhouse with little concern for average fans.

“In an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, ‘We know all too well,’” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who chairs the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights. “Live Nation doesn’t just dominate the ticketing — about 70% of the big concert market — but also they own many of the major venues, and for the venues that they don’t own, they tend to lock in on three-, five-, seven-year agreements, which means that the competitors that are out there aren’t able to even compete when it comes to the ticketing.”

Subcommittee ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, also couldn’t resist the siren’s call of a Swift allusion, prefacing his remarks by thanking Klobuchar for pushing for the hearing. “I had hoped, as of a few months ago, to get the chair back,” he said. “But once again, ‘she’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.’”

The business of hosting, promoting, and selling tickets to concerts and other live events — Ticketmaster dominates pro sports ticketing, as well — is an odd one. According to the Los Angeles Times, Ticketmaster controls nearly 80% of the ticket market in the U.S., bringing in $750 million in annual profits. It seems like just a middleman between the musician and the concertgoer. But Ticketmaster’s real customers aren’t fans — who have little choice in how to buy their tickets — but the venues (often owned by Live Nation) and the musicians. And as some of those customers, including Garth Brooks and the Atlanta Braves, attested in written testimony, Ticketmaster has treated them extremely well.

“What I witnessed [working with Ticketmaster] was a true concern and care for ticket buyers,” wrote Brooks.

As some of Swift’s exes can attest, a tongue lashing may sting in the moment but leaves few lasting scars. Live Nation and Ticketmaster have a long history of essentially selling themselves as the bad guy to the public, allowing bands and arenas to scapegoat the company for their own greedy pricing decisions. Tuesday was more of the same, albeit under the glare of a congressional spotlight.

“Primary ticketing companies, including Ticketmaster, do not set ticket prices. We do not decide how many tickets go on sale and when. And we do not set service fees. Pricing and distribution strategies are determined by artists and their teams. Service fees, even if called ticketing fees, are retained mainly by venues,” said Live Nation President Joe Berchtold.

Berchtold does face a more tangible risk than just the verbal berating he received, however, if the Senators decide to do more than take advantage of the extra media attention to get themselves on TV and instead turn to legislating.

After nearly 50 years of Congress and the courts endorsing a laissez-faire approach to the antitrust regime, one ostensibly couched in terms of maximizing consumer welfare by permitting efficiency-driving mergers, members of both parties now are questioning the concentration of corporate power that has resulted. President Joe Biden’s picks to run the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division — Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter, respectively — have been far more aggressive in challenging mergers and enforcing consent decrees than their predecessors from both Republican and Democratic administrations.

As part of the 2010 merger, Live Nation entered a consent decree with the DOJ to refrain from retaliating against musicians who didn’t use its venues and pay $1 million for each violation. The DOJ and Live Nation extended that decree in 2020. The DOJ also reportedly opened a separate investigation into Live Nation in November, following the Swift ticket fiasco.

In recent years, bipartisan legislation aimed at creating a more hawkish competition policy has been brewing in both chambers, with Klobuchar working closely with Lee and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa. Congress passed a bill last year increasing the fees that large companies proposing mergers must pay, but more aggressive measures did not reach the president’s desk. Similar bills passed the House last year but ran out of time in the Senate, despite Grassley’s insistence that they had enough Republican votes to defeat a filibuster.

The hopes of passing stronger antitrust laws dimmed after the midterm elections. While some Republicans, including deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus members like Ken Buck of Colorado, support tougher measures, most of the party remains skeptical, including House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

COMPETITORS PILE ON

Live Nation’s competitors seized their chance to pile on Tuesday, calling for its breakup. “As long as Live Nation remains both the dominant concert promoter and ticketer of major venues in the U.S., the industry will continue to lack competition and struggle,” said Jack Groetzinger, CEO of SeatGeek, a ticketing company.

“Pepsi doesn’t earn money from Coke, but our competitor, Live Nation, makes money from selling tickets to our concerts,” said Jerry Mickelson, CEO of Jam Productions, which runs concert venues in Chicago. Mickelson described how Live Nation used its market dominance to push his company out of the arena concert business using allegedly monopolistic tactics.

Antitrust policy fans hoping the hearing might draw Swift’s star power had to settle for Clyde Lawrence, singer for the band Lawrence, which included the lyric “Live Nation is a monopoly” on one of its latest releases.

Lawrence countered some of Live Nation’s claims of being just an agent of the artists, alleging the company dictates fees and terms for smaller acts like them — in effect, creating a two-tier system for musicians in which smaller bands can’t negotiate the way bigger acts can.

Bands set the ticket price while the venues set the fees, Berchtold said in response. That didn’t sit well with Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill.

“You control the venue, do you not?” he asked.

Ticketmaster’s practices have long irked fans and bands alike. Pearl Jam launched a campaign against Ticketmaster in the ’90s, testifying before a House panel against the company’s price-stoking strategies.

Not every Senator on Tuesday’s panel joined in the Ticketmaster bashing. Louisiana Republican John Kennedy rolled his eyes at the witnesses attacking the company’s practices. “If you care about the consumer, cap the price, cut out the bots, cut out the middle people,” said Kennedy. “And if you really care about the consumer, give the consumer a break. Not every kid can afford, whatever it is, $500 to see Taylor Swift.”

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popewearsprada · 6 months

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My mom made me do it.

#charles grassley #chuck grassley #us senate #republican #iowa #only in iowa

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thenewdemocratus · 8 months

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The Washington Post: Christopher Ingraham: The Orwellian Deception of Chuck Grassley's Leniency Industrial Complex

Source:The Washington Post Anyone who calls them self a Conservative and especially a fiscal Conservative, but who supports the American Prison Industrial Complex and our current criminal justice system, I at the very least would question how fiscally conservative are you. I would also question how conservative you are when you have Conservative Republicans in Congress like Senators Ted Cruz,…

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thenationview · 2 years

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US senators describe Petro's stance against their country as "alarming"

US senators describe Petro’s stance against their country as “alarming”

In a letter released Friday, Rubio and Grassley reveal: Rahul GuptaDirector of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, expressed their concerns about Petro and asked him to provide detailed information about a meeting he had with him last August. “Drug Policy and President Petro’s Attitude Towards” United States it’s alarming. Shortly after taking office, President Petro suspended…

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#Article #blonde frame #Chuck Grassley #Colombia #Petroc #Politics #the herald #United States Senate

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radiofreederry · 9 months

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Fun fact: octogenarian Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is one of the few members of Congress who manages his own twitter account directly

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truth-has-a-liberal-bias · 3 months

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The House voted Wednesday night to pass a $78 billion tax package that includes an expansion of the child tax credit, sending it to the Senate, where its path is uncertain. The Republican-led House passed the bipartisan measure 357-70...

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It now heads to the Senate, where it will need at least 60 votes to advance.

Given the margin in the House, and the scope of the bipartisan support, that might not seem like much of a challenge, but one GOP senator summarized a core problem. NBC News also reported:

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cast doubt Wednesday on passing a bipartisan tax bill, saying it could make President Joe Biden “look good” and improve Democrats’ chances of holding the White House in the 2024 election. Grassley said re-electing Biden could hurt Republican hopes of extending Trump-era tax cuts.

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The problem is not that the Iowa Republican opposes the underlying legislation; the problem is that his principal concern is avoiding governing successes that might make President Joe Biden “look good” in an election year.

The longtime GOP senator could put country over party, but by his own admission, he’s reluctant to do so. To hear Grassley tell it, reducing child poverty is fine, but helping the Republican Party’s electoral strategies is better. [...]

#Republicans #obstruction #politics #election #child poverty #Iowa

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filosofablogger · 1 year

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It's Time To Say 'Goodbye', Senator Feinstein

We’ve heard a lot of opinions about Senator Dianne Feinstein lately – her health is an ongoing concern, even more so now that we know her health issues are even more serious than we were first told. For the record, while it is heartbreaking to see her struggling just to get around, I do think the time has come for her to step down. But before I say more about that, I’d like to tell you a few…

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#Affordable Care Act #assault weapon ban #Chuck Grassley #Dianne Feinstein #Mitch McConnell #term limits #U.S. Senate #U.S. Supreme Court

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minnesotafollower · 1 year

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Need To Prod Congress To Enact the Afghan Adjustment Act

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial strongly endorsed enactment of the pending Afghan Adjustment Act to provide changes in U.S. immigration law to protect the 67,000 Afghans relocated to the U.S. after its withdrawal of forces from that country.[1] However, that editorial did not discuss the reasons why Congress has not done so. A recent column in the Philadelphia Inquirer by columnist Trudy…

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#Afghan Adjustment Act #Afghanistan #Biden Administration #For Country Caucus #Philadelphia Inquirer #Rye Barcott #Trudy Rubin #U.S. representative Peter Meijer #U.S. Representative Seth Moulton #U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar #U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley #U.S. Senator Tina Smith #U.S. U.S. Rresentative Illhan Omar #Wall Street Journal #With Honor

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feminismisstillahatemovement · 11 months

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WASHINGTON — The FBI source who reported President Biden’s alleged role in a bribery scheme said that a Ukrainian businessman claimed to keep as “insurance” 15 audio recordings of first son Hunter Biden and two of Joe Biden, a Republican senator revealed Monday.

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) made the staggering claim in a Senate floor speech after FBI Director Christopher Wray last week allowed House Oversight Committee members to see a redacted informant file about the claim that Hunter and then-Vice President Joe Biden received $5 million apiece to serve the interests of Burisma Holdings owner Mykola Zlochevsky.

“Congress still lacks a full and complete picture with respect to what that document really says. That’s why it’s important that the document be made public without unnecessary redactions for the American people to see,” said Grassley, accusing the bureau of needlessly redacting information about the recordings from the file shared with House lawmakers.

“Let me assist for purposes of transparency,” the 89-year-old went on. “The 1023 [form] produced to that House committee redacted reference that the foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversations with them. Seventeen total recordings.

“According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden,” Grassley continued. “According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then-Vice President Joe Biden. These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case he got into a tight spot. The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden.”

The senator concluded: “So, as I’ve repeatedly asked since going public with the existence of the 1023, what, if anything, has the Justice Department and FBI done to investigate? The Justice Department and FBI must show their work. They no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

Grassley learned of the informant file this year from a whistleblower and told House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who issued a subpoena to the FBI. The informant is a longtime paid FBI source.

Grassley said the FBI’s alleged disinterest in the Biden bribery allegation contrasts with its treatment of former President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday will become the first former president arraigned on federal charges for allegedly mishandling classified information after he left office.

“It’s clear that the Justice Department and FBI will use every resource to investigate candidate Trump, President Trump and former President Trump,” Grassley said. “Based on the facts known to Congress and the public, it’s clear that the Justice Department and FBI haven’t nearly had the same laser focus on the Biden family.”

Hunter Biden earned up to $1 million per year from 2014 to 2019 to serve on the board of Burisma, despite having no relevant energy industry experience.

Then-VP Joe Biden met with a Burisma executive at a DC dinner in April 2015, which featured in The Post’s explosive first report on Hunter’s abandoned laptop.

As vice president, Joe Biden also allegedly pushed US support for Ukraine’s natural gas industry during a trip to Kyiv just days after Hunter quietly joined Burisma in April 2014.

(Text source: New York Post)

#biden #white house #democrats #corruption #fbi

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 2 years

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U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday expressed support for proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act, which would clarify rules governing presidential elections and the counting of electoral votes.

"I have not read the bill, but I have read a lot about the bill," Grassley, a Republican, told reporters Wednesday. "And I think that I'm going to vote for it."

Grassley said he would wait to read it before making a final decision about his vote.

The bipartisan effort to amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 comes after former-President Donald Trump and his allies attempted to exploit ambiguities in the law following the 2020 election to reject electoral votes that were cast for President Joe Biden.

The bill will need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the evenly divided Senate. Even if all 50 Senate Democrats are in favor, it will need at least 10 Republican votes. Nine Republicans were part of the bipartisan negotiations on the bill, and Grassley's support could bring them to 10.

The legislation would clarify that the Vice President's role in presiding over the counting of electoral votes is purely ceremonial, ensuring that the Vice President would not have the power to unilaterally reject or accept electoral votes.

Trump and his allies unsuccessfully pressured former-Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the counting of electoral votes over objections from White House attorneys, according to testimony given to the House Jan. 6 Committee.

Grassley said that change is among the reasons he would support the bill.

"I don't know what the... law specifically says on this subject," he said. "It probably doesn't say anything, and then people thought well, maybe the Vice President has some discretion. He should not have had this discretion ever. And this law will make it clear that he won't have that discretion."

Grassley said he also supports a provision that would raise the threshold for objecting to electors in Congress. It would require one-fifth of the House and one-fifth of the Senate to bring an objection, a much higher bar than the current law, which allows one member of the House and one member of the Senate to bring an objection.

"This is going to make those challenges much more legitimate if there's a reason for having them," he said.

The measure also would require Congress accept as valid only one slate of electors submitted by each state and certified by that state’s governor or another official. In 2020, multiple states attempted to submit alternate slates of presidential electors without the legal basis to do so.

Derek Muller, a University of Iowa law professor who teaches election law, testified Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, speaking in favor of the proposal.

“At every turn, the bill offers more clarity, more precision and more stability,” Muller said.

Muller said there are significant risks if Congress fails to pass the legislation and leaves the current Electoral Count Act in place without changes.

“Some have attempted to exploit ambiguities over the years, most significantly in 2020,” he said. “To leave those in place ahead of the 2024 election is to invite serious mischief.”

#us politics #news #the des Moines register #2022 #sen. chuck grassley #Republicans #conservatives #gop #Electoral Count Act #Electoral Count Act of 1887 #2020 election #donald trump #trump administration #mike pence #Senate Rules and Administration Committee #Derek Muller #iowa

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reality-detective · 9 months

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To read the document 👇

You Decide 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think for yourselves #think about it #think for yourself #do your homework #do some research #do your research #do your own research #question everything #ask yourself questions #government corruption

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thenewdemocratus · 1 year

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The Daily Beast: Ben Jacobs: Harry Reid Goes Nuclear on Filibusters

The Daily Beast: Congress: Harry Reid Goes Nuclear on Filibusters The New Democrat Just to be perfectly clear, the Senate filibuster on executive and lower judicial nominations, meaning non-Supreme Court appointments to the federal bench have been removed from possible future filibuster challenges. Which means President Barack Obama and any other future president from either party, as long as the…

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#113th Congress #Ben Jacobs #Chuck Grassley #Executive Nominations #Filibuster #Harry Reid #Judicial Nominations #Mitch McConnell #Patrick Leahy #Senate Democrats #Senate Filibuster #Senate Republicans #U.S. Congress #U.S. Senate

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simply-ivanka · 3 months

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Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN)

VOTE THESE PIECES OF SHIT OUT OF CONGRESS.

#Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)#Bill Cassidy (R-LA)#Susan Collins (R-ME)#John Cornyn (R-TX)#Joni Ernst (R-IA)#Chuck Grassley (R-IA)#John Thune (R-SD)#Thom Tillis (R-NC)#Roger Wicker (R-MS)#and Todd Young (R-IN)

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