Ernst Kicks off River to River Tour

RED OAK, IOWA – Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is committed to hearing from Iowans in every corner and county of the state. On Friday and Saturday, Ernst visited Delaware, Buchanan, Black Hawk, Grundy, Audubon, Fremont, and Mills Counties to meet with small business owners, manufacturers, child care providers, student-athletes, and more. She also held a public town hall meeting in Audubon County to hear directly from constituents.

Throughout her visits across Iowa, Ernst makes it a priority to speak with members of the local media and answer unfiltered questions for their listeners and readers.

As reported by KMCH, Ernst visited Geater Machining and Manufacturing and presented them with her Small Business of the Week award: “It’s really great because I get to choose a small business in every one of our counties, and throughout the year, I get to honor those small businesses. As the Ranking member of the Small Business Committee in the Senate, this is one of the great privileges I have… it’s a big deal to me, and I’m grateful for the small businesses who do so much in their communities.”

The Telegraph Herald highlighted Ernst’s visit to the Collins Aerospace plant in Manchester, noting her work to support small businesses in defense contracting: “How do we deliver with technology like this, which gives us a competitive edge over our competitors, but do it in a sustainable way that works for the taxpayers? That’s what I’ve appreciated about Collins. They’ve done this for years now,” said Ernst.

Manchester Press photographed Ernst with Collins Aerospace employee Felicia Vaske, who was celebrating her 43rd year at the company on the day of Ernst's visit.

Carroll Broadcasting covered Ernst’s visit to Audubon, where she held a town hall for community members to voice concerns and get questions answered, including on border security: “We want to see actual changes to the law addressing the border. We can’t keep doing the same old stuff…can’t have folks automatically turned over into the United States, to never show for a court date,” said Ernst.

KWWL caught up with Ernst during her visit to Waterloo’s VGM Child Care Center: “She’s currently working on a number of child care bills in Washington, to help support families who lack access to child care…Senator Ernst tells us she’s also still working on the Farm Bill.”

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier also wrote on Ernst’s Waterloo visit, noting her concerns: “What we see across Iowa is many child care deserts,” Ernst told reporters while recognizing efforts at the federal level to try and fix the problem. “We know the challenges with having two working parents or maybe a single working parent and not having availability in their areas. It forces some very hard decisions.”

The Valley News joined Ernst’s visit to Sidney, where she recognized Penn Drug, Iowa’s oldest family-owned drug store: “We really wanted to honor Penn Drug not just because you have wonderful owners who do good things...The community needs you, so we thank you,” said Ernst.

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