Six-term Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is confident Iowa voters will give him a seventh term in the U.S. Senate next November, but he is holding off on campaigning to focus on issues in Washington.

Grassley said Tuesday in an interview with the Iowa State Daily that he is more focused on being one of Iowa’s representatives in Washington than he is on winning over voters this early in the 2016 campaign cycle.

“The answer is yes, [I’m confident] in another term,” Grassley said. “I’m not going to worry about a campaign, at least for the next several months. I’m going to concentrate on being a good senator.”

Democrats have at least three challengers to Grassley in the race for one of Iowa’s Senate seats. Former state Sen. Tom Fiegen and former state Rep. Bob Krause have been campaigning in Iowa during the past several moths. State Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids announced Monday that he is officially challenging Grassley and is planning a dozen stops to meet with voters.

Grassley was in the state this past weekend appearing at a gathering with religious conservatives and eight presidential candidates. He has also been active at events featuring presidential candidates and hosted several fundraisers with White House hopefuls.

“We’re staying neutral,” Grassley said without hesitation when asked about endorsing a Republican candidate before February’s Iowa caucus. Grassley has hosted events and fundraisers with Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki and Rand Paul. He also appeared with Scott Walker, who has now dropped out of the race.

As for outsider candidates, such as Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson, Grassley said he believes that Iowans will weed out several candidates and Iowans will rally around a serious candidate.

“I’ve got great confidence in the system, and I think the cream is going to rise to the top,” Grassley said. “Right now, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea who might come out on top in Iowa. I think that 90 percent of caucus goers are still feeling the material.”

Grassley also discussed several other items in the news related to Washington, offered praise of ISU football coach Paul Rhoads and also shared some insight on how he keeps up with the other senators following his 82nd birthday last week.

Government funding of Planned Parenthood

Congress must approve funding for the federal government to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month. Conservatives in Congress are insisting on attaching a measure to defund Planned Parenthood after a series of videos showed employees discussing the harvesting of fetal tissue and organs.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and Senate majority leader, announced plans for the Senate to vote on a measure to fund the government until mid-December, but it would also transfer funds given to Planned Parenthood to community health centers.

“We’ll send to the president a roughly two-and-a-half-month extension [of funding],” Grassley said. “During that two and a half months, we’ll work on a [long-term] funding bill for the rest of fiscal year.”

Senate Democrats will likely block the defunding effort, and President Obama would likely veto it, as well.

Grassley said he would vote for a measure tying the defunding to the must-pass government-spending bill, but he will also vote for a clean bill that does not include the Planned Parenthood provision in it.

He said the Senate would not know until next week if the defunding plan would work, but, if a clean bill is passed, Republicans would probably vote on a stand-alone defund bill.

Syrian refugee crisis

The Obama administration announced it would potentially let in tens of thousands of refugees from Syria into the United States. Grassley expressed concern at the idea and has said the administration’s policy of just trusting the refugees is not enough.

“We’ve always been open to some refugees. My concern is that [the Islamic State group] has clearly said that they’re going to sneak in terrorists into Europe and the United States,” Grassley said. “So there should be very certain and careful vetting of everybody that comes.”

Pope addressing Congress

“It’s very unique, the first time [having the pope in the United States],” Grassley said. “It’s just quite an honor to have the pope address the American people through their representatives. I’ll be there.”

Birthday celebration

Grassley celebrated his 82nd birthday last week, tweeting a picture once he was done with his annual six-mile jog from his residence in Washington to the capital.

6.14 miles this morn from Home 2 Dome for my bday. 1 hr 23 mins. Left at 4:15AM pic.twitter.com/TukSOe6sIE

— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 17, 2015

Despite all the work in Washington and traveling around Iowa when Congress is in recess, Grassley said he is easily able to jog three miles several time a week, along with his yearly birthday jog.

He said he has a routine he strictly follows everyday — going to bed at 9 p.m. and waking up at 4 a.m. to jog. Grassley said he gets to work about 6 a.m. and is able to keep up with his work, although he said he doesn’t “feel like his work is ever done.”

Praise for Paul Rhoads

Without being asked at the end of the interview, Grassley, an avid fan of the University of Northern Iowa, asked if he could get a comment in and offer some praise for ISU football coach Paul Rhoads.

“I want Paul Rhoads to have a very good season,” Grassley said. “I know he had a tough loss Saturday in two overtimes. I hope that the people of Iowa see a football coach for what they are, other than a football coach. We’re very fortunate in Iowa — whether it be at the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa or in Paul Rhoades’ case — that they’re all very good ambassadors for the state of Iowa, and we ought to honor them for being good ambassadors, [regardless] of if they win or lose.”

Grassley said he attended the UNI game Sept. 5 and the Cy-Hawk game Sept. 12.

“It took me 10 years to figure out that you never win any friends saying you’re for one or the other [at the Cy-Hawk game], so about 20 years ago I started saying I was a Panther fan, and it’s gone over well.”