Senator Ernst Says Nothing

As I mentioned before, I am on the distribution list for the congress members who represent me: Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, and Zach Nunn. Today, I went back through my emails since the start of 2024, specifically from “Joni on the Job” to see what she had been saying throughout the past year and in the beginning of the second Trump Administration. I will start with what I think was a very powerful quote from Senator Ernst, and one that I thoroughly respect:

“𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭-𝐨𝐟-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬’ 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐬.” 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐄𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐭, 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟐𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

This statement was made around the time the Supreme Court overturned Chevron Deference, which removed a lot of power from Federal Agencies unless Congress was explicit in their area of control.

Let me look back on some of the key items Senator Ernst mentioned over the past year, all of which I support and can still be found on the news section of her website:

• Transparency from the Executive (1/26/24, 3/15/24, 5/17/24, 6/21/24, 12/20/24)

• Timely FAFSA Support (1/26/24, 2/2/24, 3/29/24, 4/26/24, 5/3/24, 9/27/24, 11/22/24, 12/13/24)

• Disaster Relief / FEMA (5/3/24, 5/24/24, 5/31/24, 6/28/24, 7/12/24, 11/22/24)

• Strengthening Avian Flu Outbreak Response (5/10/24, 6/8/24, 6/28/24)

• Strengthening American Leadership / standing with NATO (7/12/24, 12/20/24)

• Restoring Free Speech on College Campuses (4/12/24)

We have seen a lot happen in the past three weeks which touch on many of these topics – so what is Senator Ernst saying through her typical “Joni on the Job” platform:

• DOGE, an unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy, has reportedly taken over the Federal Workers payment system, taking a lot of data with them and removing thousands of federal websites. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

• DOGE, an unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy, is reportedly working its way through the Department of Education to dismantle it, which includes grants to FAFSA. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

• The President has insisted on concessions from states in order to provide FEMA funding, indicating further that he is considering privatizing it into insurance programs entirely. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

• The President has chosen to shut down much of the Federal Government’s research and reporting ability pertaining to Avian Flu. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

• The President has chosen his method of leadership – tariffs on allies. He is pushing our closest trade partners away from the United States through threats of tariffs and large-scale destabilization of the world economy. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

• The President has demanded foreign students who attend colleges in the United States and protested in support of Palestinians on college campuses to be deported, despite being here legally and exercising their first amendment rights. He has further asked Universities to “Monitor and Report” protestors. What is Senator Ernst saying about this? 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Senator Ernst has appeared in some recent interviews in which she defended the President’s decision to attempt a total freeze on Federal Spending, and she has voiced her support for eliminating USAID, but I was unable to find any further information from her about her current work and nothing from the above topics are listed on her website. She has not yet responded to my email sent through her website on January 29th. Edit: As I posted this I did receive a reply to one of my requests to her and she simply explained why she supported Pete Hegseth (I had requested she not support RFK Jr.). I imagine my message was mislabeled somewhere along the line.

Senator Ernst is the chair of the Senate’s DOGE Caucus, but I am unclear what input she has in that role (or if it is even truly a formal position) as it seems we are letting Elon Musk take complete control of the department which was created purely via executive order. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Thank you.