Joni Ernst Goes on Defense: 'I'm Very Compassionate'

On Monday, GOP Sen. Joni Ernst was forced once again to confront statements she made at a Friday town hall in Iowa, though this time around, she was considerably less flip about it. The senator's original remarks in Butler County came about when the event's conversation turned to Medicaid and how the GOP's domestic policy bill wending its way through Congress could affect benefits. When an attendee yelled out that people could die if Medicaid is cut and coverage is lost, Ernst replied, "Well, we all are going to die." A video Ernst disseminated the next day appeared to poke fun at the situation, but on Monday, the senator got more serious. "I'm very compassionate, and you need to listen to the entire conversation," Ernst told CBS News on Monday.

• An Ernst spokesperson also released a statement, per the Guardian, noting: "There's only two certainties in life: death and taxes. [Ernst is] working to ease the burden of both by fighting to keep more of Iowans' hard-earned tax dollars in their own pockets and ensuring their benefits are protected from waste, fraud, and abuse."
• The White House also responded to the hubbub on Monday, calling claims that slashing Medicaid would lead to people dying "one of Democrats' most disgusting lies."
• About 20% of Iowans rely on Medicaid, including about half of those who live in nursing homes, according to Kaiser Family Foundation numbers.
• Ernst's comments have even prompted at least one new challenger to her bid for a third term next year: minor league pitcher and Iowa state Rep. JD Scholten, who describes himself on his campaign site as a "baseball-playing, beer drinking, Bible-reading, working-class proud Prairie populist." "When she doubled down on Saturday with her, I felt, very disrespectful comments, I was like, 'OK, game on," Scholten tells the Des Moines Register.
• At least one other Democrat, Knoxville Chamber of Commerce chief Nathan Sage, has officially jumped into the race, with others possible, while Republican Joshua Smith plans on taking on Ernst in the primary.

(More Joni Ernst stories.)