Grassley endorsed by U.S. Chamber of Commerce

CEDAR RAPIDS - The nation's largest organization for business advocacy has thrown its support behind incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Rob Engstrom, senior vice president and national political director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced his organization's endorsement of Grassley at an event Friday at CRST International, the Cedar Rapids-based trucking and logistics company.

Grassley is facing Democrat Patty Judge in November's election.

'Over the course of the last seven or eight years, our members faced an unprecedented threat from big-government liberals in Washington, D.C.,” said Engstrom, noting Grassley is the antidote for that threat. 'Voters in Iowa have an opportunity to send a message. They have the clearest choice in America as to who is going to represent them.”

Engstrom said the nation needs leaders who stand against government regulations such as Obamacare and cap-and-trade policies that aim to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Such regulations, he said, hurt businesses and damage the economy.

'It's taken shape in the regulatory arena with an alphabet soup of government agencies who make it harder for businesses in Iowa to do what they do best, and that's grow jobs,” Engstrom said. 'We have politicians in Washington who say ... businesses don't create jobs. It is time for a full-throated defense of the American free enterprise system.”

Engstrom called Judge, 72, a former Iowa lieutenant governor, state secretary of agriculture and state senator, 'a classic tax and spend liberal.”

'She has raised taxes - sales taxes, business taxes - she hasn't met a tax she doesn't want to raise,” he said.

Engstrom also criticized Judge's support for the Environmental Protection Agency's Waters of the United States plan, which would expand the number of waterways subject to clean water rules.

'I know what that means for farmers right here in Iowa,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Judge campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

Engstrom said Grassley is a champion of the free enterprise system, noting the senator's vote to eliminate the debt tax. He also called Grassley the more serious candidate.

'It's not time for someone who is looking for a hobby,” Engstrom said of Judge.

Grassley said the chamber's endorsement means a great deal to him. He pledged to work to bring changes to tax and regulatory laws.

'The respected U.S. Chamber of Commerce is an organization that fights for business large and small,” he said. 'The U.S. Chamber helps to carry their voice to Washington, D.C., so Congress will understand their concerns. Make no mistake about it, main street businesses are really the backbone of our economy. They are under considerable pressure due to the challenges they face in today's economy, and lots of these are caused by the government.”

Grassley credited Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds with improving Iowa's economy. He highlighted the state's 5.5 percent unemployment rate in April 2011, the year Branstad took office, comparing it to the current unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

'Just as the governor and lieutenant governor have turned this ship around in Iowa, we need to make sure that we're working at the federal level to promote business policies that continue to unshackle Iowa's businesses.”