Sen. Chuck Grassley visited Simpson College on Jan. 14 for a Q&A with the Indianola community.

Students and community members were invited to attend and lead the informal event with any questions they might have for the Grassley, who has served Iowa for more than 35 years in the Senate. The upcoming presidential election was a primary interest among everyone.

Grassley said he would support any of the Republican candidates because he believes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not bring anything new to our country.

“I believe that Hillary Clinton will be a third term for (President) Obama,” Grassley said.

He also believes, however, there are too many candidates running for the Republican nomination.

“Because if you wanted to run for president, you could run for president. So we have too many candidates,” he said.

When asked about his views on Obama’s State of the Union address, Grassley said he had mixed feelings.

While he enjoyed Obama’s optimism towards the future, he had some concerns about his cooperation tactics.

“You don’t try to work with Congress to set that leadership, but you expect cooperation,” he said.

Another topic that interested many people was the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, should a Republican win the general election.

He said it could take up to a year to repeal the United States Federal statute due to all the legal processes it must undergo.

Ian Reed, president of the Libertarian Society at Simpson, attended the session to thank Grassley for all his work and to also ask a few questions.

“I thought it was really interesting, and it’s really cool that Simpson gets this type of attention.” Reed said.

Reed said he agreed and disagreed with topics that were discussed.

“One of the things I definitely agree with is all that he’s done with the auto-fed bill,” he said.

Another reason Grassley is touring Iowa and meeting with younger crowds is to promote his College Internship Program, which provides internships in both fall and spring semesters and two sessions during the summer.

Applications can be found at www.grassley.senate.gov/students/internships.

Grassley is on many Senate committees, such as Judiciary, Finance, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Budget, and Taxation. He also is a part of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

Grassley also visited Hampton-Dumont High School in Franklin County and South Hardin High School in Hardin County.