Iowa Senator Ernst Delivers GOP Response to State of the Union Address

Published at 10:02 pm, January 20, 2015

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening, telling the American people it was more of “a conversation about the new Republican Congress you just elected, and how we plan to make Washington focus on your concerns again.”

[READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE HERE]

Ernst, a military veteran and the first woman to be elected to the Senate from Iowa, described her modest beginnings when her parents worked hard for everything they had. She then compared that situation to today in America when “many families feel like they’re working harder and harder, with less and less to show for it.”

It’s because of hard economic times, according to Ernst, that the Republican Congress will work to create jobs, including passing the Keystone XL pipeline bill that the president has promised to veto.

Ernst also vowed that Republicans would work to tear down trade barriers and simplify the tax code, which the White House said it would be flexible on.

In regards to battling global terrorism, Ernst asserted that Congress will devise a comprehensive plan to defeat “the forces of violence and oppression.”

Ernst also brought up the GOP mission “to repeal and replace a health care law that’s hurt so many hardworking families.”

In terms of social issues, she reiterated the Republican goal to outlaw abortion, saying “protecting our most vulnerable is an important measure of any society.”

Once again speaking personally, Ernst claimed it doesn’t necessarily take “wealth or privilege to make a difference. You just need the freedom to dream big, and a whole lot of hard work.”

She closed by saying, “The new Republican Congress you elected is working to make Washington understand that too. And with a little cooperation from the President, we can get Washington working again.”

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