'Where is Congress?' Sen. Chuck Grassley town hall in Iowa gets heated quickly [View all]

Source: USA Today

Published 3:30 p.m. ET March 21, 2025


HAMPTON, Iowa — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley fielded questions from a packed room of heated Iowans on Friday who urged him to "stand up for what's right" in the face of the Trump administration's massive federal downsizing. “My question, which I think is on our minds here, is where is Congress?” asked one audience member, which was met with cheers from the audience at the Franklin County Courthouse in central Iowa.

The town hall, which drew a crowd of more than 100 Iowans and quickly reached the room's capacity, comes after the National Republican Congressional Committee recently advised Republicans against holding public town halls as speakers' anger over Trump's administration policies went viral.

Grassley is the first Iowa lawmaker to hold a true town hall in the wake of a wave of discontent from voters across the country with Washington, D.C., politics. Iowa's federal representatives recently told the Des Moines Register, a USA TODAY Network partner, this month they still plan to hold town halls.

Following the national outcry, left-leaning groups have held more than a dozen "people's town halls" or "open seat town halls" for Iowa's federal delegation because they say their questions remain unanswered. National Democrats have also heard the calls from voters and included Iowa on a tour with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week of swing districts for the 2026 midterms where potentially vulnerable Republicans hold seats. Walz told Iowans that Democrats need to list to voters' "primal scream" to "do something, dammit!"

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/21/chuck-grassley-town-hall-iowa/82596665007/