After CNN reported that Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) was unwilling to answer a CNN correspondent when she was queried as to whether it was appropriate for President Trump to ask a foreign government to investigate a political rival, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi snidely subtweeted Ernst, without bothering to confront her directly. Pelosi tweeted, “Republicans are now refusing to answer the simplest question: whether it’s acceptable for a president to pressure foreign countries to undermine our elections. American elections should be decided by Americans, not by ‘favors’ from foreign governments.”
Republicans are now refusing to answer the simplest question: whether it’s acceptable for a president to pressure foreign countries to undermine our elections.
American elections should be decided by Americans, not by “favors” from foreign governments.https://t.co/wrx4NhPT48
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) October 10, 2019
If Pelosi expected Ernst, whoserved in the Iowa Army National Guard from 1993 to 2015, where retired as a lieutenant colonel, to be intimidated, she was sadly mistaken. Ernst fired back, “Actually, American elections should be decided by ELECTIONS. Not politicians. I know you’re still upset about the results from 2016, but people here in Iowa would sure appreciate it if you spent less time playing political games and actually brought #USMCAnow up for a vote.”
Actually, American elections should be decided by ELECTIONS. Not politicians. I know you’re still upset about the results from 2016, but people here in Iowa would sure appreciate it if you spent less time playing political games and actually brought #USMCAnow up for a vote. https://t.co/YM07a1MXbl
— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) October 10, 2019
After the transcript of a call between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky was released, Ernst released this statement:
The fact that House Democrats dove head first into an impeachment inquiry before seeing this transcript shows exactly what we’ve known all along: they are determined to impeach President Trump. I’ve looked at the transcript; I don’t see anything there. The Senate Intelligence Committee is going through proper, bipartisan procedures on this whole matter. House Democrats should be focused on helping us lower health care costs for folks across the country and passing the widely supported USMCA.
She also stated,“The Senate Intelligence Committee is being really thoughtful about this, and working in a bipartisan manner. They’re doing their job in looking into the claims. They’ll also be going through that transcript, and taking a look. This is an effort that I support, and can get behind. It’s working together to get to the bottom of it, actually finding out the facts before trying to throw this president under the bus.”
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has been stuck in Congress, is a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and adds provisions that the earlier agreement lacked, including giving Mexican workers the right to unionize, thus making it more expensive for American companies to relocate there. It also makes intellectual property protections stronger, guarding American companies from intellectual property theft by countries we trade with, as Miriam Sapiro noted for CNN.
Ernst has been fed-up with the House for its impeachment proceedings for a while; on Monday she tweeted, “The American people sent us to Washington to do our jobs, not play politics. If House Democrats use impeachment to delay #USMCAnow, they will be hurting Iowans.”
On October 1, she tweeted this:
Folks in Iowa want Congress to focus on moving our country forward, not this impeachment circus. pic.twitter.com/Oua82APRyE
— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) October 1, 2019
On October 2, she tweeted. “Folks in Iowa want Congress to focus on moving our country forward, not this impeachment circus.”
Folks in Iowa want Congress to focus on moving our country forward, not this impeachment circus. pic.twitter.com/Oua82APRyE
— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) October 1, 2019
On September 25, she tweeted, “If Democrats were serious about helping farmers, they’d join me in urging @SpeakerPelosi to pass USMV+CAnow. We have a trade deal on the table that would help farmers, businesses and workers in Iowa and across the nation. Time to stop the games and get it done!”