Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa
Sen. Joni Ernst, the junior senator from Iowa, provided the GOP’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Jan. 20. She talked about she plowed the fields on her family’s farm, worked construction with her father and worked at a fast-food restaurant to help the family get by and to put herself through college. And then she talked about how the federal government needs to cut spending so that hardworking families like hers can keep more of their hard-earned money and have to pay less in taxes and such.
But as Media Matters for America points out, what Ernst — and most of the reporters covering her speech — failed to mention is that Ernst’s family was on the receiving end of some of that government spending: “Ernst’s family farm in Red Oak, Iowa received over $460,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2006. Family members received conservation payments, commodity subsidies, and agricultural aid.”
