Sen. Chuck Grassley is concerned about government spending and the state of those who share his world view.

After touring the Oskaloosa Agriland FS facility, Grassley got down to the business of the public’s concerns in a kind of town hall meeting setting Thursday evening.

He began by noting an increase in the public’s concern over current government spending.

“There’s a whole lot of money being expended and they don’t see it doing a heck of a lot of good to turn the economy around,” Grassley said. “Now we’re on a path with the budget we’ve got from the new president of tripling that national debt in the next 10 years.”

Grassley said he is worried about the growth of the national deficit because it’s not being paid back. He cited the late 1990s as a time when hundreds of billions of dollars where paid to the national debt. Since then, the deficit has only grown, he said.

“Credit is part of the way we do business in America,” he said.

When it comes to the state of the Republican Party in America, Grassley continued a brutally honest outlook.

“Well, it’s bad,” said Grassley bluntly before noting that more voters are becoming Independents. “Where we are as Republicans, we’re at the lowest level.”

Grassley went on to explain why his party is in its current state, citing recent sex scandals involving Republican leaders.

“We lost people because they thought we weren’t standing by our principles, mostly on fiscal conservatism,” he said. “Three Republicans made us all look bad by going with the stimulus package.”

Grassley also said farmers are not revered they way they used to be. However, he suggested those contributing to America’s rural economy need to be more outspoken in their conservative views. Grassley added, he’s one of two farmers in the current U.S. Senate and that there’s little understanding of agriculture there.

“Farmers have been respected for so long, and now we’re getting down to two percent of the population, we’ve just got to yell some more,” said Grassley. “We don’t speak up enough.”

A lack of cohesive international trade practices, as well as illegal immigration and health care concerns were also discussed.

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City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at news2@oskyherald.com