NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS — U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley addresses constituents during a town hall meeting at the Tama County Courthouse in Toledo on Monday, May 13.

TOLEDO – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley was in Toledo last Monday, May 13, passing through as he travels across the state for his yearly 99-county tour. Grassley held his town hall in the big courtroom of the Tama County Courthouse with a sizable crowd in attendance.

Grassley answered multiple questions on several topics including the current situation with Iran — to note, the meeting was held before the death of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash this past Sunday.

“Part of the mistake was not enforcing the sanctions that are still in place,” Grassley said. “So, a lot of money has come to Iran, they can sell their oil now, and they sell most of it to China, so, they’re getting tens of billions there. That’s not taxpayers’ money.”

One citizen asked a question about educational funding, and if it was possible to change it so that in colleges where “radical socialism is being promoted, antisemitism is being promoted (and) violence against Jews is happening on campus,” the funding comes from the student body.

“I think in regards to the antisemitism, it’s too early for me to give you an answer,” Grassley said. “Because I thought we’d face this in the United States. After six million people being killed by Hitler, and the problems that Israel has regularly from other people, I thought there wouldn’t be a single American that would say that we oughta be killing Jews. Or if there was, it would be such a fringe, nobody would listen to them. And then, you gotta remember a lot of, what you might say, innocent young people got taken in. About 60% of people that are at some of these demonstrations at universities aren’t even students.”

The senator also talked about America’s military production compared to China.

“We gotta build up our military based on the proposition that our security for our people is the number one responsibility of the federal government,” Grassley said.

During the town hall, Senator Grassley informed the attendees that they could visit his website for more information, or to find some of his opinions on certain topics.