Fact Checker: Has Grassley been a partisan chairman of the judiciary committee?

Introduction

'Last year, Iowa's Chuck Grassley was chosen to be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Under his leadership, the committee has reported out legislation that helps ... Twenty-six bills reported out of his committee. Seventeen passed by the Senate. Nine already signed into law. Each and every one with bipartisan support. In fact, a Georgetown study found Chuck Grassley was one of the top five senators working across party lines to get things done.”

Source of claim: 'Works,” a TV ad airing in Iowa, paid for by Grassley Works, the senator's campaign committee.

Analysis

Iowa's longtime Republican senator is being challenged for re-election this year by former Iowa agriculture secretary and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, a Democrat.

The ad touting Grassley's bipartisanship comes as Iowa's senior senator faces criticism of partisanship for blocking a hearing for Democratic President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, through his role as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Grassley was appointed chairman of the committee in January 2015.

Let's take the claims made in the ad, which appears as 30 second and 60 second spots, one at a time.

Grassley Works state director Bob Haus provided a list of legislation used to reach the count of 26 bills reported out, 17 passed by the Senate and nine signed into law. These bills - such as acts related to whistleblowers, trade secrets defense, freedom of information and nuclear terrorism - were all flashed on-screen in the ad.

A little background first.

When a bill is assigned to a committee, members of the committee may make markups or amendments to the measure, according to a review of how a bill becomes law, available on the U.S. Senate website. If a majority of members of the committee support the measure, it must be 'reported” promptly by the committee chairman to the Senate. The bill must then be approved with identical language in both the House and Senate, before it can become law through presidential action, according to the review.

The Library of Congress keeps a repository of legislation. When the bills presented in the TV ad are matched against the Congressional Record, the claims of how many were reported out, passed by the Senate and signed into law check out. Bill co-sponsors are also identified in the Congressional Record, and the claim that 'each and every one” had bipartisan support also checks out.

In the Fact Checker's review of legislation reported out by the committee and passed by the Senate, additional measures surfaced.

Haus noted the data from the ad is a little dated and bills that were later discharged were not counted. He said since the ad was made, the judicial committee reported out the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act on June 9, and two additional bills passed the Senate - the Rapid DNA Act and Justice for All Reauthorization Act.

The final claim refers to Grassley's bipartisan ranking.

The Lugar Center and Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Bipartisan Index ranks Grassley so far at No. 5 with a bipartisanship score of 1.21807 for the 114th Congress, which covers January 2015 to January 2017. The ranking is based on bill sponsorship and cosponsorship data.

Conclusion

While many are challenging Grassley's partisanship in the fight over the Supreme Court vacancy, the ad accurately points out a bipartisan record of moving legislation through the Senate Judiciary Committee. We score these claims made in the ad an A

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Criteria

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by an Iowa political candidate/office holder or a national candidate/office holder about Iowa, or in advertisements that appear in our market. Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context.

If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email factchecker@thegazette.com.

' This Fact Checker was researched and written by B.A. Morelli.