GOP Senators on Shutdown Impact: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As the shutdown stretches into its fourth week, GOP Senators are barely trying to conceal the fact that the…
By The Numbers: Shutdown Harms Federal Workers in Key 2020 States
A new report published by the Center for American Progress this week highlights the grave harms federal workers are enduring under President…
VIDEO: Ernst Faces Backlash For Shunning Iowa Newspapers
Yesterday, it came to light that Joni Ernst was refusing to sit down with the Des Moines Register's editorial board. Then it became clear, she was refusing to sit down with the editorial board of essentially every newspaper in Iowa. As she spurned the Iowa press, she still managed to find the time to meet with MSNBC's Chuck Todd yesterday (and had the audacity to tweet a picture of this with the hashtag #IowaKnows Best -- no, really!), and to sit down with FOX News this morning. It's understandable why Joni Ernst is desperate to hide her extreme agenda from Iowa -- support for privatizing social security, wanting to eliminate the federal minimum wage, opposition to subsidies like the RFS, etc. -- but her little Houdini act backfired. Check out Ernst getting blasted on local TV for cheating Iowa voters out of the opportunity to know where she stands on the issues:
The Company You Keep… Allen West Endorses Joni Ernst
You can tell a lot about a person by the people they associate themselves with. For Joni Ernst, her cavalry just got even more extreme. Ernst has already credited the Koch brothers with starting her trajectory, said she was "flattered' to be compared to Sarah Palin, trumpeted Glenn Beck's conspiracy theory, and now she's earned the adoration of Allen West, who just cut this spot endorsing her. In case you're not familiar with Allen West, here are a couple of lovely quotes that highlight his worldview, though this is just the tip of the iceberg:
- "When I see anyone with an Obama bumper sticker, I recognize them as a threat to the gene pool."
- "So I’m here as the modern-day Harriet Tubman to kind of lead people on the Underground Railroad away from that plantation [of the Democratic Party]"
- On Social Security benefits: "So once again we are creating the sense of economic dependence which, to me is a form of modern, 21st-century slavery."
Joni Ernst and the Kochs want to dismantle the Clean Water Act
Joni Ernst is preparing for a big debate, but before she takes the stage, let's take a look at who she would really represent in the Senate. According to audio released from the Kochs' secretive donor summit, Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst gushed that the Koch brothers' donor network is to thank for her political "trajectory." Ernst went on to attribute the Kochs' backing to her support for "rolling back... rules and regulations." It's an apt observation from Koch Crony Joni, who has gone so far as to oppose the Clean Water Act, a critical environmental protection that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries have run afoul of no less than 18 times in the Hawkeye State alone. Earlier this year, while campaigning for the Republican party nomination for Iowa's open Senate seat, Ernst said that she considers the Clean Water Act to be "damaging" to business and that she supports replacing it with "voluntary measures." The extreme remark even rankled members of her own party, with Republican operatives citing her opposition to the longstanding, successful environmental protection as proof positive that she had tacked too hard to the far right. Despite the push back it received from some establishment Republicans, Ernst's rant against the Clean Water Act is a perfect example of the type of anti-regulation rhetoric that, as she herself speculated, likely piqued the Kochs' attention.
Hello Ernst and Ryan; Goodbye Social Security and Medicare
Joni Ernst is in serious trouble in her Iowa senate race. Paul Ryan really wants to be president. So when Ryan comes to Iowa to campaign for Ernst tomorrow, everybody's a winner! Except Iowans. Paul Ryan pioneered plans to privatize Social Security and slash Medicare, and Joni Ernst was his number one cheerleader. Ernst said "Ryan is a do-er, especially on budget issues," and she gleefully voted to endorse his budget in the Iowa Senate. She's voiced her support for privatizing Social Security on the campaign while refusing to offer any details, and claimed that Medicaid recipients "have no personal responsibility for their health," another program that would be gutted by Ryan's budgets. Joni Ernst is a fringe candidate, and it shows in the company she keeps and the people she admires. She's thanked the Koch brothers for "starting her trajectory." She said she was flattered to be compared to Sarah Palin because Palin is the kind of politician she admires. She appeared with Ted Cruz, who said there was no candidate he was more excited about across the country than Ernst. And now she's campaigning with anti-retirement crusader, Paul Ryan, who she calls a "do-er." Joni Ernst doesn't want Iowans to believe that she's extreme. But facts are facts. Ernst and Ryan want to privatize Social Security and roll back Medicare. That's pretty extreme.
Are Those Palm Trees in Iowa, Joni?
Yesterday, right in the middle of prime campaign season with just 42 days to go until Election Day, Joni Ernst took a break from her usual rough and tumble schedule of pandering to the Koch brothers to pander instead to some wealthy donors in....sunny Florida. American Bridge was there to document Ernst's fun in the Sunshine State, including her arrival and departure in a fancy chauffeured SUV and cracking jokes with her wealthy new Floridian friends. How positively, um, Iowan, of her. Watch Ernst's trip to the Sunshine State here:
New Video — Joni Ernst: Trajectory
Newly released audio recordings from the Koch brothers' summit of billionaires and bought candidates this week reveals the extent to which candidates like Joni Ernst are inextricably tied to the oil lords and their anti-working families agenda. Ernst did not parse words in crediting the Kochs and their extensive network for getting her to where she is today. Now, the billionaire brothers are reaping the benefits of their investment, as Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee in a key senate race, sings the Koch gospel on issue after issue.
Happy Birthday!
Seventy-nine years ago today President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, marking a new page in our nation's history that attempted to rid the widespread problem of Americans spending their golden years trapped in poverty. Fast forward forty five years later. David Koch runs for Vice President on a Libertarian ticket that calls Social Security - already at that time a wildly successful program that has helped millions - "the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to the threat of nuclear war." Today? The Republican Party, fully embracing a hard right, extreme Tea Party, Koch-fueled agenda, runs a docket of Senate candidates who would make cuts to or have otherwise attacked Social Security. While Americans old and young continue to cherish the promise of retiring with some stability, Republican Senate candidates have made their priorities clear -- and protecting their Koch cash-flow comes long before protecting your retirement. These GOPers are coming at it from every angle. Some, like Tom Cotton and Cory Gardner, have voted to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 70, because what's five more years of work when you're sitting pretty in your taxpayer-funded job? Some candidates, like David Perdue, Mike McFadden and Monica Wehby, have offered nebulous support for cuts, because plans and details are hard (and voters clearly might not like to hear what they really think). Terri Lynn Land and Joni Ernst haven't spent time in Congress yet, but they sure are keen on privatizing the program. Mainstream? Not hardly.
Joni Ernst: Ted Cruz’s Favorite Candidate
Joni Ernst was asked about her extreme agenda recently, and she responded with an exasperated, "Oh for heaven's sake. I am not extreme, I'll tell you that." Well Joni can tell us whatever she wants, but her positions speak for themselves. She wants to abolish the Department of Education and the EPA. She wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage altogether. In her perfect world, just like Ted Cruz, she would eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that are crucial to Iowa's economy. She's floated impeaching President Obama, supported state nullification of federal laws, and endorsed Ted Cruz's government shutdown, which cost the economy $24 billion. For heaven's sake, that sounds pretty extreme now, doesn't it? It's even extreme enough for Ted Cruz. In fact, he finds Ernst's extreme positions so inspiring that he told Radio Iowa this weekend, "there is no senate candidate I am more excited about across the country than Joni Ernst." Joni Ernst and Ted Cruz are two peas in a pod. And their agenda would be disastrous for working families in Iowa.