Ernst Earns Award for Her Work to Save Tax Dollars

Ernst Earns Award for Her Work to Save Tax Dollars

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, was named Taxpayer Defender of the Month by the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for her consistent and long-standing squeal work to root out waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government.

For over a decade, Ernst has exposed wasteful government spending through her monthly squeal awards, and earlier this month, she was tapped to lead a legislative package that would tackle fraud before it occurs.

Download more photos of Senator Ernst here.

"Iowans sent me to Congress to make Washington squeal, which is why I am especially honored to receive this award for my work to save folks' hard-earned tax dollars," said Ernst. "For over a decade now, my squeal work has exposed and put an end to egregious examples of waste. As more gets uncovered in Minnesota and beyond, it turns out this was just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm continuing my charge to stop the fraud before it happens."

"Senator Ernst has been a relentless force for taxpayers. She's an outstanding choice for this award because of her leadership to eliminate duplication and waste, and her commitment to ensuring federal agencies follow basic standards of fairness and transparency," said Brandon Arnold, Executive Vice President of NTU.

Background:

Last year, after Ernst released a bombshell report exposing more than a dozen examples of government boondoggles collectively racking up $162 billion in cost overruns, she successfully shepherded her bipartisan Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act through the Senate to require any taxpayer-funded project more than $1 billion over budget or more than five years behind schedule to be made public. Because of Ernst's work, President Trump last year defundedCalifornia's gravy train to nowhere.

Ernst also secured her Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act as an amendment to the Working Families and Tax Cuts that is now law, saving up to $100 million for taxpayers over the next decade. The bill will end the backward practice of forcing small businesses and job creators to foot the bill for unemployment insurance for those making more than $1 million annually.

Earlier this year, Ernst successfully exposed and stripped a Democrat earmark from the spending bill that would have sent $1 million to a Minneapolis "East African" addiction recovery group that had all the hallmarks of previous fraud schemes, including operating above a Somali restaurant, being run by three individuals who all claim to live in the same house, and a business model that relied on contractor fees.

Previously, Ernst exposed how EcoHealth Alliance sent over $1 million U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for risky experiments on bat coronaviruses, led the charge to permanently debar the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and successfully defunded EcoHealth to cut off any taxpayer dollars used for research of pandemic potential.

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