Posted on 01/15/2015 6:45:39 PM PST by Morgana
The top republicans in Congress have tapped pro-life Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa to deliver the GOP response to pro-abortion President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address next week.
“Sen. Ernst brings a unique perspective to the Senate. She is a mother, a soldier and an independent leader who serves in Washington because Americans voted for change in the last election, and Joni understands that middle-class Americans want Congress to get back to work and that they want Washington to get refocused on their concerns, instead of those of the political class,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday.
Ernst is a strong pro-life advocate who, last November, won her bid for election in Iowa against a pro-abortion stalwart. During her election, leading pro-life groups showered Ernst with praise for standing up for unborn children during her time in the Iowa state legislature.
“As a state senator, Joni Ernst has been an outspoken leader in the fight to protect innocent human life in Iowa,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. “Joni Ernst will bring her record of strong pro-life leadership to the U.S. Senate. The most vulnerable members of our human family will be well served by Joni Ernst’s election to the U.S. Senate.”
Ernst opposes using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion and supports the legislation that prohibits abortion after 20 weeks on the basis that these children are capable of feeling excruciating pain.
Ernst – the first woman elected to the Senate from Iowa grew up in small-town America, and still lives there today:
I was born and raised in Montgomery County. I grew up walking beans and feeding hogs. My mom made all of my clothes. We went to church every week, helped our neighbors when they needed it, and they did the same for us. These were the values I was raised with, and they’re the same values I have fought my entire life to promote and protect.
We didn’t have much money, so I was fortunate to be able to attend college at Iowa State University with the help of academic and leadership scholarships, and earned tuition money by working construction jobs with my dad during the summer months. I met my husband Gail while in Ames. After Gail retired as a Command Sergeant Major and Army Ranger, it came time for us to settle down, and raise our own family, we knew there was only one place to go: Back home to Iowa. Today I teach Sunday school in the same church I was baptized and married in. I live in the very house where one of my best friends grew up. And when I mow our lawn, I look out at the same sidewalks and yards where we used to play.
Ernst is married to a retired Army Ranger and, as a member of the Iowa Army National Guard, she personally served in Iraq and Kuwait.
Planned Parenthood of Iowa was so strongly opposed to Ernst’s election that it spent almost half a million in advertising against her.
Planned Parenthood was attacking Ernst because of her support of the Supreme Courts decision to allow Hobby Lobby, a Christian-run store, to refuse to pay for abortifacient drugs in their employee health care plans. The Hobby Lobby decision did not ban employees from purchasing all birth control, just ones that may kill babies in the womb.
I just learned ... her husband’s name is ... Gail !
Brilliant!
Well sorry friend. I didn’t mean to do that, but we all know that Mitch McLoser is trying to keep the conservatives at bay in the senate, and let’s be honest we don’t anything yet about Joni Ernst. Sure, she spoke like a diehard conservative on the campaign trail in Iowa but we all know what happens when these same people get to DC. Make no mistake here. McLoser is going to try and control Ernst from the beginning. If her rebuttal to the president’s state of the union is bland and full of bipartisan rhetoric we’ll know who’s in control of whom.
I think the GOPe are setting her up to Palin-ize her
She will have been in office for 17 days.
An excellent choice.
Change it when you’re on the air. Nothing Boner or Ditch can do about it.
Wouldn’t that be something. The American people want leaders. Hell, we’re all craving for people in public life and political office who will follow the credo of Ronald Reagan and that simply is, “Say what you mean and mean what you say.”
I don’t trust any of them. I’ve become very cynical of all of them. They’re throwing a bone to pro-life conservatives. It’s all theatrics, like Boehner’s speech yesterday. I’m sure it was approved in advance by the White House.
Boehner knows the president will veto anything the house and senate vote down on and then he and McConnell will tell us they did everything they could but the president vetoed their bill and they think that will pacify conservatives. They really think we’re that dumb and too disinterested to call them out! Times have changed and those two useless political hacks better know we have no patience anymore for they and their establishment cohorts.
Ok Freepers...I took a beating for calling Senator Ernst a RINO while she was running, so NOW she is “picked” by RINO Mitch’ isn’t that special. Seems I was pretty much on target. What an orchestrated dog and pony show this should be....but I will hold my opinion until after the show!....I have cleared my in box for the onslaught of hate mail from you staunch supporters of Senator Ernst. ( I hope I am wrong about Ernst ...but I don’t think so )
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