Judiciary Committee member U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) has made her opposition to the Affordable Care Act crystal clear by voting time and again to repeal the health care law and by supporting California v. Texas, the Trump administration’s lawsuit to completely dismantle the health care law. If successful, the lawsuit would throw our entire health care system into chaos by ripping away health care from more than 20 million Americans and ending protections for more than 135 million people with pre-existing conditions, all in the middle of an ever-worsening pandemic. Senate Republicans are rushing to confirm anti-ACA Judge Amy Coney Barrett in hopes she will help them accomplish their decade-long goal of eliminating the law — and the protections it provides for Americans — when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in California v. Texas one week after the election.
What’s At Stake If The Supreme Court Overturns The ACA
If Trump’s lawsuit to overturn the ACA is successful, 227,000 Iowans would lose coverage.
Without the ACA, 1,288,400 Iowans with pre-existing conditions could be charged more or denied coverage altogether.
A Walk Down Memory Lane: Senator Ernst And The ACA
Ernst has voted FOUR TIMES to fully repeal the ACA.
2017: Ernst Refused To Give Up On Repealing The Affordable Care Act After The Failure Of The Senate Bills: “We Don’t Have The Option To Sit Back And Do Nothing.” “Iowa’s U.S. senators vowed Friday to continue trying to rein in Obamacare after coming up on the losing end of an early morning vote on a controversial ‘skinny repeal’ bill. […] Ernst said Friday she’s also not ready to give up on repealing the Affordable Care Act. ‘We don’t have the option to sit back and do nothing; Iowans are demanding relief from Obamacare,’ she wrote in a statement released by her staff. ‘I am disappointed that the Senate was unable to advance important changes to this flawed law. We must now continue to find ways to work on behalf of Iowans and the American people who have been negatively impacted by Obamacare to find affordable, patient-centered solutions that work for them.’” [Des Moines Register, 7/28/17]
2014: Ernst Campaigned For The Senate With An Ad Where She “Unloads” On Obamacare By Shooting It With A Handgun. “Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst of Iowa has released a new TV ad vowing to ‘unload’ on Obamacare, in which she takes target practice at a shooting range with a handgun. The narrator of the ad says Ernst, a state senator and lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, ‘carries more than just lipstick in her purse.’ The commercial portrays her riding a motorcycle to a shooting range where she takes target practice. ‘Joni Ernst will take aim at wasteful spending. And once she sets her sights on Obamacare, Joni’s gonna unload,’ the narrator continues. Next, Ernst starts firing a handgun at a target. ‘Oh, and one more thing,’ adds the narrator as the dispersal of her shots on the target come into view. ‘Joni doesn’t miss much.’” [Washington Post, 5/4/14]