Ernst Lays Out Six “Big Beautiful” Options to Save Tens of Billions
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) rolled out six proposals for the One Big Beautiful Bill based on her decade of work to make Washington Squeal, reduce reckless spending, and save taxpayers’ money.
Ernst’s proposals would save tens of billions of dollars by eliminating bogus payments, snapping back SNAP overpayments, ending unemployment for millionaires, defunding welfare for politicians, stopping subsidies for union bosses, and selling vacant buildings.
Here is some of the coverage of the proposals:
Fox News | Republican senators roll out DOGE budget proposals for Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
“While a $9.4 billion rescissions package, a formal request from the executive branch to codify its DOGE cuts, is in the works, proponents of the Senate DOGE package say their total estimated savings would accentuate that and also surpass it in value.”
National Review |Ernst Pushes Plan to End Food Stamp Overpayments to Cut Spending in ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill
“Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) is rolling out a series of measures to cut spending in the GOP's ‘big, beautiful,’ bill including a proposal for ending mismanagement in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps.”
New York Post | Sen. Joni Ernst pushes to ban taxpayer-funded union time in One Big Beautiful Bill Act
“Sen. Joni Ernst wants to tweak the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act to eliminate the longstanding practice of taxpayer-funded union time. Approximately $160 million of your money went toward fed workers’ union time as of 2019, the last time such data was available, and Ernst (R-Iowa) has been on a quest for more recent information.”
Breitbart | Sen. Joni Ernst Aims to Stop Fraudulent Payments as Pay-For in Big Beautiful Bill
“The Hawkeye State senator, as the chair of the Small Business Committee, aims to have her bill, the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Spending Act, as a pay-for in Trump’s marquee bill to stop fraudulent and improper federal payments. The legislation could have a significant effect, as more than $160 billion in improper payments occurred in fiscal year 2024.”
The six proposals are:
- Saving billions in bogus payments
- The Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Spending Act codifies President Trump’s Executive Action to effectively eliminate improper and fraudulent payments by implementing a commonsense checklist before money goes out the door.
- In Fiscal Year 2024, more than $160 billion in fraudulent and improper payments occurred.
- Snapping back overpayments
- Ernst’s Snap Back Inaccurate SNAP Payments Act strengthens the integrity of the important Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by identifying all errors, clawing back overpayments, and holding states with high payment inaccuracies accountable.
- In 2023, there were approximately $10.73 billion in overpayments. However, the true cost is unknown because errors totaling $56 or less are excluded.
- Ending unemployment for millionaires
- Ernst’s Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act will disqualify anyone making a million dollars or more from being eligible for unemployment income support.
- Individuals earning more than a million dollars a year received over $271 million in unemployment insurance during the first two years of the Biden administration.
- Eliminating welfare for politicians
- Ending the absurd practice of taxpayer-funded union time
- Ernst’s Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act ends the absurd policy of taxpayer-funded union time which allows federal employees to engage in union activities when they are supposed to be serving the American people.
- It cost taxpayers at least $160 million per year according to the most recent report from 2019.
- Selling vacant buildings
- Ernst has exposed how it costs billions every year to maintain thousands of vacant government buildings and empty offices.
- Selling just a handful of these buildings would generate hundreds of millions of dollars.
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