‘Cutting Waste Is Not a Partisan Idea’: Trump’s DOGE Secures Support from Dem Lawmakers

Elon Musk and Donald Trump

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plans to cut waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government’s nearly $7 trillion budget through President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is beginning to attract support from a notable group: Democratic lawmakers.

Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz is the first Democratic lawmaker to join the House’s DOGE Caucus helmed by Republican Reps. Aaron Bean of Florida and Pete Sessions of Texas, according to a Tuesday press release.

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GOP Sen Rails Against Biden-Harris Admin for ‘Catastrophic’ Middle East Policy One Year After October 7 Hamas Attack

Sen. Joni Ernst

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst told President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday that their Middle East policy has been “catastrophic,” one year after the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and the subsequent war that broke out in the region.

Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing roughly 1,200 people, sparking a broader regional war and dragging in other bad actors such as the Houthis, Hezbollah and Iran. Ernst told Biden and Harris that their response to the conflict — including criticizing Israel’s actions in the conflict, delisting the Houthis as a terrorist organization and appeasing Iran — has only contributed to the ongoing chaos in the region and gave their policy an “F” grade, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Sen. Joni Ernst Releases List of Federal Agencies with High Employee No-Show Rates Post-COVID

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)

With Christmas fast-approaching, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa put out a “naughty list” of government agencies that have high no-show rates of employees who have not returned to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

According to Ernst’s list, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration top the list with just 7 percent office occupancy rates.

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Transportation Department Rejects Ernst’s Request to Review Telework Policies

The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) inspector general declined a request by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa to look into telework abuses in government agencies, according to a Thursday letter provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Ernst sent a letter to 24 agencies on Aug. 28 requesting that they review their telework policies to determine how taxpayer money was being spent, which Transportation Department Inspector General Eric J. Soskin declined to do, according to the letter. Ernst introduced the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act on Sept. 13 to address issues with telecommuting as part of a package of legislation to rein in the “administrative state.”

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Timken Endorsers Silent on Her Alleged Mismanagement of Ohio Republican Party Funds

Jane Timken For U.S. Senate

Three U.S. Senators who this week endorsed Ohio Republican candidate Jane Timken for U.S. Senate are silent after The Ohio Star reached out to ask about Timken’s alleged mismanagement of Ohio Republican Party (ORP) funds. 

Tuesday, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) endorsed Timken in the hotly contested primary race that includes candidates J.D. Vance, Mike Gibbons and Josh Mandel. 

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Athletes Fighting Biological Males in Women’s Sports Take Their Stories to Washington

“We’re not often heard,” Cynthia Monteleone told a trio of female senators Thursday afternoon on Capitol Hill. “Though we are just three of thousands that this is happening to.”

Monteleone is a world champion track athlete who competed against a transgender competitor in the 2018 World Masters Athletics Championships in Málaga, Spain. Dressed in a white pantsuit with a fresh tropical flower tucked behind her ear, she spent Wednesday and Thursday urging Republican lawmakers to fight back against biological males competing in women’s sports.

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Ernst Introduces Bill Criminalizing Abortions, Hysterectomies Without Informed Consent

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst is introducing a bill that would criminalize any sterilization or abortion procedure performed without informed consent from the patient.

The Iowa Republican’s legislation builds off a September 2020 whistleblower complaint that alleged mass hysterectomies were performed on immigrant women by Dr. Mahendra Amin without their consent while they were being held at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. Amin, a rural gynecologist, has denied any wrongdoing.

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Democrats And Journalists Circulate Fake Email Saying Iowa Farm Bureau Retracted Endorsement for Joni Ernst

A group of Democratic political operatives and journalists circulated a fake email on Twitter on Sunday that the Iowa Farm Bureau retracted its endorsement of Sen. Joni Ernst, a move which would have been a heavy blow to the Republican’s re-election bid.

The fabricated email asserted that the farm bureau was retracting its support for Ernst because of her debate performance earlier this week against challenger Theresa Greenfield.

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Sen. Blackburn Files Resolution to Update Senate Rules to Dismiss Democrats’ Delayed Impeachment Charges

  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a resolution Monday to update Senate rules to allow a motion to dismiss articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for lack of prosecution. The resolution, which calls for immediate action on an impeachment, is available here. Blackburn tweeted, “Impeachment shouldn’t be playing out like an episode of House of Cards. If Pelosi fails to send the articles promptly over to the Senate, we should hold a vote to dismiss them and get on with our work. That’s why I’m co-sponsoring @Hawleymo’s impeachment rule change resolution.” Impeachment shouldn’t be playing out like an episode of House of Cards. If Pelosi fails to send the articles promptly over to the Senate, we should hold a vote to dismiss them and get on with our work. That’s why I’m co-sponsoring @Hawleymo’s impeachment rule change resolution. https://t.co/RCI0yPNDlo — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 6, 2020 Blackburn, in a press release, called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s attempt to prevent an impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate “unprecedented.” “After three years of searching for a reason to impeach this president, Democrats in the House cannot seem to find the time to send…

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Blackburn Joins Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans to Move Neomi Rao’s nomination to Senate Floor to Fill Kavanaugh’s Old Seat on Appeals Court

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) voted Thursday to advance Neomi Rao’s nomination to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to move Rao’s nomination to the full Senate, Fox News said. Rao would fill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s vacant seat on the court. Rao is in charge of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where she has a key job in President Donald Trump’s work to cut federal rules and regulations, Fox News said. She also is on leave as an associate professor of law from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. She teaches and writes in the areas of structural constitutional law, administrative law, and legislation and statutory interpretation, according to her biography. She founded the law school’s Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Democrats and two Republicans — Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Thursday grilled Rao on her stance on topics from sexual assault to LGBT rights to deregulation, Fox News said. She said, “Tennesseans have regularly said over the last several years one of the things that concerned them most is the judges that…

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Omaha Man Threatened to Kill Republican Senator Joni Ernst at Motorcycle Charity Ride

OMAHA – Sen. Joni Ernst led a charity motorcycle ride Saturday in Iowa, one day after a Nebraska man was arrested for threatening to kill her at the fundraiser. Robert William Simet, 64, of Omaha was taken into custody Friday after telling employees at Loess Hills Harley-Davidson in Pacific Junction, Iowa, that “everybody in the government…

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U.S. Rep. Diane Black’s Pro-Life Legislation Signed Into Law By President Trump

Tennessee Star

  U.S. Rep. Diane Black was at President Trump’s side last week as he signed pro-life legislation that she introduced in the House. The measure signed into law Thursday overturned an Obama administration rule that forced states to provide Title X family planning grants to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The Tennessee Republican said in a statement that while she is “unapologetically pro-life, this bill is simply about states’ rights.” “For over 45 years, states like Tennessee have had the authority to direct federal family planning funds to the health care providers that best suit the needs of their unique communities, but sadly, in a parting gift to the abortion industry, President Obama stole this freedom and flexibility and forced his own political agenda on states across the country,” Black said. A registered nurse, Black is a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. The measure was co-authored by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). On March 30, Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote to push the bill through in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim majority. Pence was needed because two Republican women, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, opposed the bill. The measure had…

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