Ernst Pushes for Disaster Response Resources for Iowa Farmers

WASHINGTON – After Iowa was hit hard by recent tornados and flooding, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, advocated for efforts to support farmers impacted by natural disasters at today’s subcommittee hearing. She asked witnesses about the experiences farmers have accessing and navigating federal disaster resources.

Watch her full line of questioning here.

“Just a couple of weeks ago…we saw a lot of flooding coming through the northwest corner of my state. We saw heavy rainfall that caused major flooding up and down the Missouri River,” said Ernst. “Large portions of western Iowa saw similar destruction earlier this spring when we had tornados. We had a number of communities that saw 60% or more of their homes destroyed by tornados. Following each of these disasters, I was able to go out and visit with our constituencies, the Iowans, and personally hear their testimonies. We really are Iowa strong, and I certainly saw the best of our communities.”

Ernst has long worked to cut government red tape so disaster victims can better access the tools they need when disaster strikes. Most notably, she called for a one-stop-shop that connects America’s rural communities to federal resources, now known as the Rural Partnership Network, which is a new direct line of communication that helps coordinate hundreds of rural-focused federal support programs.

In response to Ernst’s questions, Kevin Paap, Blue Earth County Commissioner, agreed with her, saying, “The key to coordination is communication and we can always do better communicating with rural communities.”

Today, Ernst also participated in a full Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the oversight of digital commodities where she pushed Senate Democrats to focus on passing the long overdue Farm Bill, not a superficial hearing on cryptocurrencies. She applauded Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) for his work to craft a comprehensive, bipartisan Farm Bill that overwhelmingly passed out of the House Agriculture Committee and reiterated she would like to see similar progress in the Senate.

Background:

Ernst has experienced the devastation natural disasters cause firsthand; during her time in the Iowa National Guard, she deployed multiple times to help Iowans recover from devastating floods.

In light of recent devastation, Ernst has continued to call for full resources to support Iowans. Ernst has also been visiting the Iowa communities affected and meeting directly with local leaders and emergency response officials to support recovery efforts.

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