The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Federal Funding (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Joni Ernst was published in the Senate section on pages S921-S922 on March 1.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Federal Funding
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, from the streets of Portland and Seattle to right here in our Nation's Capital, lawlessness has ensued all too often across our Nation over the past year. I have consistently called it what it is--anarchy. And, folks, we need to be absolutely clear on this: Anarchy cannot be tolerated in our Nation.
The mayhem that we have seen over the last year has put our families, our communities, and our law enforcement in danger, and tragically it has led to death and destruction.
In what will probably come as no shock to the American people, a nonpartisan watchdog organization found that the Federal Government has spent more than $14 billion of our taxpayer money, our hard-earned dollars, on Federal contracts and grants in five major cities where civil unrest, also known as anarchy, goes unchecked and police are unable to do their jobs--14 billion with a ``b'' dollars paid to local leaders and city officials who are failing to do their jobs.
Let's keep talking about these dollar figures, folks. According to recent reports by local media in Oregon, leftwing protests in Portland have caused roughly $2.3 million in damage to Federal buildings since they broke out last summer. The near-nightly standoffs with police involved graffiti, broken windows, firecrackers, as well as Molotov cocktails. According to one U.S. attorney in Oregon, cleanup at the courthouse and four other government buildings has cost more than $2 million, and that number could keep going up because the repairs are ongoing.
Last year, I pushed for a review of any Federal funding that was going to the cities and States that were allowing anarchy to run rampant. It was a simple ask: Scrutinize any future Federal funding that might flow into these lawless jurisdictions.
Specifically, I asked the Office of Management and Budget to look into and report to the American people the amount of taxpayer dollars local officials used to either sustain these autonomous zones or the amount needed to repair the damage done during the chaos. Thankfully, last year, the Federal Government began to do just that, but, folks, just last week, President Biden reversed this effort, and I would like to know why.
I agree with our new President that peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy, but smashing windows is not protesting and neither is looting. Burning small businesses that are the modest nest eggs of hard-working Americans and actions like those are totally unacceptable. I don't think there is anyone in the Senate who would disagree. So why, then, is President Biden reversing course and preventing this review from going forward to simply examine the funds that are going to the very places where lawlessness continues to be unanswered?
Too often over the last year, local leaders have prevented law enforcement and emergency responders from being allowed to carry out their jobs and protect the public. Yet millions of our taxpayer dollars have still been doled out to these cities.
I will continue to stand strong and be a voice for the hard-working taxpayers of this country. If city and State leaders abdicate their job to protect citizens and allow anarchist jurisdictions to prevail, the Federal Government and Iowa taxpayers should absolutely not foot the bill. Anarchy is never OK--never OK--and taxpayers should never subsidize it.
Thank you.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
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