Joni Ernst to deliver GOP response to State of the Union
Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa will deliver the Republican Party's response to President Obama's State of the Union address. The president will deliver his speech before a joint session of Congress on Jan. 20.
The conservative senator is the first woman ever elected to Iowa's congressional delegation and one of six women in the GOP Senate caucus. She replaced former Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, helping the GOP win a majority in the Senate for the first time since 2006.
"Our folks back home sent us to Washington, D.C. with a clear mission, and that mission is to get to work," Ernst said at a GOP retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Thursday. "That mission is to craft and implement good policies, good solutions."
Mr. Obama in recent weeks has previewed several of the policy proposals he plans to pitch in his State of the Union address, including expanding broadband access, strengthening cybersecurity for consumers, encouraging private companies to share information about cyber threats, and making community college free for two years.
