Grassley Challengers Blast Chuck for “Reverse Robin Hood” Amendment

Tom Fiegen to Chuck Grassley: You haven’t lifted a finger while more Iowans are out of work

CLARENCE, Iowa — Democratic Senate candidate Tom Fiegen blasted Senator Chuck Grassley after the release of the dismal September 2009 unemployment numbers, with unemployment jumping to 9.8% and the loss of an additional 263,000 jobs.

“In Cedar Rapids alone, we have seen the announced closure by Terex, Sealed Air and Midland Forge.  All of them were major long standing employers in the community. Other major Iowa employers like John Deere, Alcoa and Pella have announced major layoffs this summer and fall.  Yet Chuck Grassley has not lifted a finger to retain or replace these jobs.  He has truly lost his way,” Fiegen said.

“Every day, I meet with Iowa workers and small business owners who can’t pay the mortgage or their insurance premiums while Mr.  Grassley has been paid a federal salary of over $4,000,000.00 and collected millions more in campaign contributions from insurance, pharmaceutical and Wall Street fat cats.  He has been one of the insiders in Washington so long that he can’t hear the voices of the thousands of Iowans who have lost their jobs.”

“Working Iowans need somebody in Washington who knows their problems firsthand and will work to create jobs for them, like me, not somebody who has been in Washington so long that big money has drowned out the voices of unemployed Iowans.”

Fiegen is a former state senator from Cedar County and a bankruptcy attorney in Cedar Rapids. He is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2010 election.

For more information about Tom Fiegen go to:  Fiegenforussenate

[Note from BFIA:  Does Bob Krause really have 63% name recognition in Iowa?  According to Rasmussen, he does.  Go to pollster.com]

Bob Krause, Democratic Candidate for the U. S. Senate, criticized an amendment offered  by Senator Charles Grassley as having a “reverse Robin Hood” effect.

Late Wednesday  afternoon, Senator Grassley unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have eliminated $7 billion a year in fees that the government would charge private health insurance companies, then make up the shortfall by reducing benefits to poor people and legal immigrants, said Krause, quoting a Washington Post account.

“Senator Grassley doesn’t seem to have a clue about how much poor Americans are able to pay for medical care,” said Krause.  “Many families are tapped out, and now he proposes that fees be reduced on a profitable industry and that huge costs be shifted to low-income Americans.”

“Even the Sheriff of Nottingham would cringe on this one,” added Krause.  “…he seems to listen more to special interest lobbyists that are around him every day in Washington than to constituents he meets with in Iowa.”

“Senator Grassley has made it clear who he’s standing up for in the health care debate and it sure isn’t the hard-working Iowa families who have been priced out of the insurance market,” said Krause.  “Once again I say, ‘it is time to rotate the crops” Krause concluded. 

Voters can learn more about his campaign at KrauseforIowa .

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