Chuck Grassley

==== 2010–2020 ====
In January 2010, Grassley was one of seven Senate Republicans to sign a letter warning the White House about their serious reservations with Director of the Transportation Security Administration nominee Erroll Southers due to conflicting accounts Southers gave the Senate about his previous tapping of databases for information about his ex-wife's boyfriend in the late 1980s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/07/nation/la-na-souther7-2010jan07|title=GOP senators voice reservations about TSA nominee Erroll Southers|first=Peter|last=Nicholas|date=January 7, 2010|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 12, 2019|archive-date=December 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210103530/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/07/nation/la-na-souther7-2010jan07|url-status=live}}</ref>

In December 2010, Grassley was one of 26 senators who voted against the ratification of [[New START]],<ref>{{cite web |first=Mark|last=Memmott |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/22/132262684/senate-ratifies-start |title=Senate Ratifies START |website=[[NPR]]|date=December 22, 2010 |access-date=December 22, 2010 |archive-date=March 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331202810/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/22/132262684/senate-ratifies-start |url-status=live }}</ref> a [[nuclear arms]] reduction treaty between the United States and [[Russia|Russian Federation]] obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads as well as 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years along with providing a continuation of on-site inspections that halted when [[START I]] expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/world/europe/23treaty.html|title=Senate Passes Arms Control Treaty With Russia, 71-26|first=Peter|last=Baker|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 22, 2010|access-date=February 21, 2019|archive-date=December 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229151646/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/world/europe/23treaty.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 2013, Grassley opposed a [[gun control]] amendment authored by Senators [[Joe Manchin]] and [[Pat Toomey]], and instead proposed alternative legislation to increase prosecutions of gun violence and increase reporting of mental health data in background checks.<ref name="Ed Tibbetts">{{cite news|url=http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/grassley-proposes-alternative-gun-bill/article_c0a8ffce-75f8-546e-9907-960295eea4ba.html|title=Grassley proposes alternative gun bill|work=[[Quad-City Times]]|first=Ed|last=Tibbetts|date=April 17, 2013|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421025738/http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/grassley-proposes-alternative-gun-bill/article_c0a8ffce-75f8-546e-9907-960295eea4ba.html|archive-date=April 21, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Roast and Ride (29191413552).jpg|thumb|Senator Grassley in 2016]]
On March 9, 2015, Grassley was one of 47 senators to sign a letter to [[Iran]] led by [[Tom Cotton]] to rebuke the [[Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=DelReal|first1=Jose|title=Here's a list of the GOP senators who signed the Iran letter|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/03/10/heres-a-list-of-the-gop-senators-who-signed-the-iran-letter/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=March 10, 2015|access-date=December 29, 2019|archive-date=December 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229000300/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/03/10/heres-a-list-of-the-gop-senators-who-signed-the-iran-letter/|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2015, Grassley introduced legislation to help protect taxpayers from alleged abuses by the [[Internal Revenue Service]]. The legislation was proposed in response to recent events involving alleged inappropriate conduct by employees at the IRS but was opposed by Democrats.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.radioiowa.com/2015/06/16/senator-grassley-introducing-bill-to-protect-taxpayers-from-irs|title=Senator Grassley introduces bill to protect taxpayers from IRS|work=RadioIowa|first=Matt|last=Kelley|date=June 16, 2015|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928190538/http://www.radioiowa.com/2015/06/16/senator-grassley-introducing-bill-to-protect-taxpayers-from-irs/|archive-date=September 28, 2015}}</ref>{{Anchor|full Grassley}}

Since first taking office in 1981, Grassley has held public meetings in all of Iowa's 99 counties each year, even after losing honorarium payments for them in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sen. Chuck Grassley (R)|url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/almanac/member/194|website=National Journal Almanac|access-date=August 16, 2014|archive-date=August 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082922/http://www.nationaljournal.com/almanac/member/194|url-status=live}}</ref> This has led to the coinage of the term "full Grassley" to describe a presidential candidate visiting all 99 counties of Iowa before the [[Iowa caucuses]].<ref name="full grassley">{{cite web|last1=Glueck|first1=Katie|title=Cruz's bid for a 'full Grassley' succeeds at the wire|url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/iowa-caucus-2016-live-updates/2016/02/ted-cruz-full-grassley-iowa-218543|website=[[Politico]]|date=February 1, 2016|access-date=February 3, 2016|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202091854/http://www.politico.com/blogs/iowa-caucus-2016-live-updates/2016/02/ted-cruz-full-grassley-iowa-218543|archive-date=February 2, 2016}}</ref>

In 2018, Grassley suggested that no women were serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee because of the heavy workload.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/grassley-suggests-absence-of-women-on-judiciary-due-to-committees-heavy-workload/2018/10/05/b289c0fe-c8e7-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html|title=Grassley suggests absence of women on Judiciary due to committee's heavy workload|last=Kane|first=Paul|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|language=en|date=October 5, 2018|access-date=October 11, 2018|archive-date=October 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010181049/https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/grassley-suggests-absence-of-women-on-judiciary-due-to-committees-heavy-workload/2018/10/05/b289c0fe-c8e7-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The following week, Grassley added that he would "welcome more women" to serve on the Committee "because women as a whole are smarter than most male senators. And they work real hard, too".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/09/iowa-sen-chuck-grassley-women-smarter-judiciary-committee-women-kavanaugh-metoo-blasey-ford/1579400002/|title=Chuck Grassley: Judiciary should have more women, because they 'are smarter than most male senators'|work=[[The Des Moines Register]]|last=Leys|first=Tony|date=October 8, 2018|access-date=October 12, 2018}}</ref>

In July 2018, after President [[Donald Trump]] nominated [[Brett Kavanaugh]] to the Supreme Court,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html |title=Brett Kavanaugh Is Trump's Pick for Supreme Court |last1=Landler |first1=Mark |date=July 9, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |last2=Haberman |first2=Maggie |access-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180710011707/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Grassley lauded Kavanaugh as "one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the Senate",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/09/chuck-grassley-trump-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-superb-choice/768933002/|title=Chuck Grassley: Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh a 'superb' choice|date=July 9, 2018|first=Brianne|last=Pfannenstiel|newspaper=[[Des Moines Register]]|access-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref> and said that critics of Kavanaugh should lessen their confidence in how he would vote given past surprises in voting by members of the Court.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/11/chuck-grassley-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-rule-abortion/774873002/|title=Grassley: 'How are you going to know' how Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will rule?|date=July 11, 2018|first=Stephen|last=Gruber-Miller|newspaper=[[The Des Moines Register]]|access-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref>

In 2016, Senate Republicans refused to consider Obama's nomination of [[Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination|Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court]]. At the time, Grassley said that the "American people shouldn't be denied a voice" in the nomination, which was "too important to get bogged down in politics". In 2020, after a Supreme Court vacancy arose due to Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]]'s death, Grassley supported a prompt vote on Trump's nominee, backing the decision of "the current chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Senate Majority Leader".<ref>{{cite news |title=Where Senate Republicans Stand on Filling the Supreme Court Vacancy |url=https://www.wsj.com/graphics/2020-scotus-senate/ |access-date=September 27, 2020 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200927061343/https://www.wsj.com/graphics/2020-scotus-senate/ |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>