Joni Ernst interview

This interview was conducted before the Senate voted to confirm Justice-Designate Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Ernst later voted against her confirmation.

The Daily Iowan: I wanted to start by talking about Judge Jackson. Do you plan to vote one way or the other?

Joni Ernst: I will be making an announcement probably later today. I have had an opportunity to view some of the hearings, because I’m not on judiciary any longer, and I was able to sit down with her last week. I’ve asked a number of questions, many of them are the same that I ask of every nominee, but you’ll have to wait till later to just hear the announcement.

The DI: Do you have any thoughts on just the historic kind of nature of her nomination and the potential for her to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court?

Ernst: I think it’s fantastic any time that we can see diversity. The important thing is that we make sure we have qualified people that are serving, so that also should be first and foremost when people are looking at the Supreme Court. Because it is such an important position, we want to make sure they’re qualified.

The DI: I have a few questions about the war in Ukraine. You recently led a group of senators to Poland and Germany to meet with military leaders and refugees. Could you tell us a little bit about what you learned from that trip?

Ernst: It was a great, great opportunity to hear firsthand from Ukrainians that were refugees, to hear from leaders from those countries, our NATO allies, and as well to visit with the men and women in uniform that are helping bolster NATO defenses. It was actually a tripartisan delegation, because we have Republicans and Democrats and one independent, Angus King, that went with us on the trip. What I took away from that experience was, not only the heartbreak that so many of the Ukrainians are going through and the difficulties they are facing, but that America stands united in opposition against Vladimir Putin and the Russians and what they are doing to a sovereign and free country and they unity that we’re showing to our NATO partners.

The DI: You’ve advocated for sending [Polish MiG-29] fighter jets to Ukraine, and the Biden administration has said that this is risky and increases tensions with Russia. Do you think that those are valid concerns?

Ernst: I think that Vladimir Putin, or anytime a NATO partner or the United States does anything, Putin is going to consider it escalatory. But the equipment that we have sent to Ukraine already is taking down Russian jets and helicopters.

Poland can actually go ahead and transfer those weapon systems to Ukraine. What I have proposed as the United States is backfilling the MiG-29s with f16s that we already have mothballed. Granted, they’ll take additional parts to get them up and ready for the poles to use. But that would be our solution to making sure our NATO partners aren’t sending all of their equipment forward and leaving them unprotected.

The DI: President Biden said yesterday that Putin should be tried for war crimes for his actions in Ukraine. Do you agree with President Biden on that?

Ernst: Absolutely, I agree with President Biden, and I think that every member that you talk to in the United States Senate would also agree with President Biden that Putin is a war criminal. The descriptions of destruction and war that we’re hearing coming out of Ukraine, what we’ve seen on the television, what I’m hearing from my own contacts in Ukraine, it is abhorrent what he has done killing innocent civilians, women, children, elderly people.

The DI: With the 2022 midterms coming up, I know you won’t be on the ballot. But how do you feel about Republicans’ chances of taking back the House and Senate and also the chances of Iowa Republicans?

Ernst: Yeah, I think this is going to be a great opportunity for Republicans to move the balance of power into their favor. I certainly believe that the House will take seats back, and they will become the majority. I think there’s also a pathway to the majority in the United States Senate. I think with Chuck Grassley, he has obviously a primary opponent and then we’ll move on to the general election. I think that he will do quite well in both of those so he’ll keep his seat secure. We have an opportunity, I think, with the sole Democratic House member that is in our delegation. I think as Iowans look at inflation, as high as we have had in 40 years, and they look at the extreme level of spending coming from the federal government, Iowans are dismayed about that. If they look at even their gas and energy prices, they are very, very upset about that. I think all of these things will translate into Republican victories in the fall.

The DI: Since Governor Reynolds took the national stage delivering the rebuttal to the State of the Union. How did you feel about the national response to her?

Ernst: I am exceptionally proud of Gov. Kim Reynolds and her address to the nation. I think it was really, really important that she did that and was able to project to the United States, the things that we have done right in the state of Iowa, the different activities that she has led on, and then compare and contrast that to what’s going on in the United States at the federal government level, and how the federal government is really struggling under Democratic leadership right now. I think it was very important that she did that, and I think it just opens a world of opportunities and eyes on Iowa, which is always a really good thing.

The DI: I think it’s important to ask about the violence against women act. I know that that’s important to you. Can you talk about that being incorporated into the federal funding bill and what that meant for you to get that passed?

Ernst: It was incredibly important, not just personally, but to the advocacy groups across Iowa and across the nation. For survivors, just so they know that we’re here and we are providing those resources necessary for them to move out of really difficult circumstances. Three years of effort went into that bill, a piece of legislation, and again, another just phenomenal bipartisan effort of so many. I want to give a huge kudos to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein. She has partnered with me from day one on this effort, and she stuck with it even when there were product naysayers out there, you know, telling her to back off. She was always encouraging and saying we’re going to get this done. Senator Durbin has been a great player in this as well, and he helped bring that over the finish line this last year, through his work on the Judiciary Committee and his influence with so many other members. But overall, great effort, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well, helped me with the tribal piece. This bill touched so many different committees in the United States Senate. It was important to have buy-in from all of them, and we were able to get it done. So again, not just for me personally, but for the advocates, the survivors, it’s really important to get this bill reauthorized.