Senator Joni Ernst has once again turned her back on Iowans, all to give billionaires a tax break. As expected, today she voted in favor of an extremely unpopular Republican bill that would devastate working families across Iowa – gutting critical health care programs like Medicaid and Medicare for hundreds of thousands of Iowans, slashing food assistance for hungry kids, and hiking energy costs.
This vote comes as no surprise, as Ernst has told Iowans that less health care and higher costs didn’t matter because “we all are going to die.” The comments, and her later doubling-down on them by releasing a non-apology video filmed in a cemetery, were widely criticized by Iowans. Ernst’s constituents held protests, including “die-ins” outside her office, and prominent election-watchers lowered her chances of winning re-election as a result.
“Joni Ernst has made it clear that she doesn’t care if Iowans live or die, so it’s not a surprise that she voted for a bill that threatens their families’ access to the basics — health care and food,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Nico Delgado. “Iowans thought that Joni was one of them, but she’s proven to be just another swamp creature sell-out who wants to make her rich friends even richer, while stealing food out of the mouths of Iowa’s kids and destroying their families’ ability to get medical care when they’re sick.”
By voting for the GOP’s budget bill, Joni Ernst just voted to:
- Threaten the health care access of over 700k Iowans on Medicaid and CHIP.
- Go after 259.3k Iowans on SNAP food assistance programs, 64 percent of whom are families with children.
- Forfeit $4.1 billion of federal dollars for Iowa by threatening the future of Medicaid expansion.
- Raise energy costs and cut jobs by slashing clean energy tax credits, which are projected to add more than $238 million in annual economic value to Iowa if left in place.
Published: Jul 1, 2025