Ernst Statement on Attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), a combat veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today issued the following statement in response to the attacks over the weekend in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York:

“I want to express my gratitude to our brave men and women in uniform, who have apprehended a man suspected of involvement in the explosions in New Jersey and New York over the weekend. I also want to thank the courageous off-duty officer in Minnesota who stopped the attacker at the shopping mall in St. Cloud. My thoughts and prayers are with those injured and their families.

“While we do not yet know the extent of ISIS’s involvement, ISIS claimed credit for the Minnesota attack, and federal investigators are now looking into whether the New Jersey and New York bombings have any link to international terrorism.

“As we watch ISIS spread from the Middle East and around the globe to places in South America to Southeast Asia, I will continue to call for a global and comprehensive approach to defeating ISIS. The millions of displaced citizens in the Middle East and we at home cannot wait any longer for a comprehensive strategy to be defined. We must act now to engage our allies, such as the Kurdish Peshmerga; correctly utilize Special Operations Forces; and encourage Congress to debate the use of force in Syria through a new AUMF, as well as end sequestration so our military has the tools necessary to defeat ISIS.”

Senator Ernst is a cosponsor of Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) joint resolution for the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the Islamic State (ISIS) and its associated forces.

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