Ernst moves up in GOP leadership ranks

As the new Congress began its work on January 3, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst moved up a notch on the Senate Republican leadership team.

Ernst had held the fifth-ranking leadership position, Senate Republican Conference vice chair, for the last four years. She now serves as chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking position for the minority caucus. Her predecessor, Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, opted not to seek re-election in 2022.

The GOP caucus elected the leadership team including Ernst in November, but Iowa’s junior senator did not step into that role until Blunt’s term ended this week.

In a video released on social media, Ernst said she looked forward to “working with all of my colleagues to craft conservative legislation and policy.” Her ability to enact that policy will be limited by the 51-49 Democratic majority in the upper chamber. But Republicans have a good chance of securing a Senate majority after the 2024 elections.

Since joining the GOP leadership team shortly after the 2018 election, Ernst has rarely expressed any public disagreement with top Senate Republicans. However, she denounced Washington’s “completely broken” budget process last month after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Appropriations Committee ranking member Richard Shelby, and others negotiated an omnibus federal budget bill with top Democrats. Ernst voted against that bill, while most of the GOP leadership team supported it.

Meanwhile, Iowa’s senior Senator Chuck Grassley was sworn in for his eighth term on January 3, along with other senators elected in 2022. His office released this photo, showing the senator’s wife Barbara Grassley holding the family Bible as Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the swearing in.

A news release stated that Grassley “will continue to serve on the Senate Judiciary, Finance, Agriculture and Budget committees” and is “expected to become the ranking Republican member” on the budget panel. In the previous Congress, he served as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, will continue to chair the budget committee. CORRECTION: Sanders will chair the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is the new Budget Committee chair.

Grassley’s news release also noted that he will be the “dean of the Senate, or longest serving member,” in the new Congress. Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who was first elected in 1974, was the dean of the previous Senate; he did not seek re-election in 2022.

Iowa’s four U.S. House members—Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Ashley Hinson (IA-02), Zach Nunn (IA-03), and Randy Feenstra (IA-04)—have yet to be sworn in or assigned to committees. The House cannot conduct any business before electing a speaker. The four Iowans backed Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy on all six ballots for speaker taken on January 3 and 4.

UPDATE: The Senate Small Business Committee announced on February 2 that Ernst will be the new ranking Republican on the panel. More than a dozen business groups applauded the appointment in a statement released by Ernst’s office.

Top image: Screenshot from a video Senator Joni Ernst posted on social media on January 3.

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Laura Belin

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