WASHINGTON, DC — In remarks yesterday morning before a virtual meeting of The Ripon Society, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) called on the President to stand up to Russia, and talked about some of the other key challenges facing America and the people she represents back home.

“Putin is continuing his aggression towards Ukraine,” Ernst stated, “and my thought is we need to impose sanctions now. Putin only understands strength and power. And right now, we’re not pushing back against him. It’s almost like an open invitation to walk across the border and invade Ukraine. There is no such thing as a minor incursion as the President has said.”

“We are seeing a doctrine of appeasement from the Biden Administration. If he had shown leadership and strength early on in this administration, we wouldn’t be at this point. Putin wouldn’t see the opportunity to advance on Ukraine, because he would know that Ukraine has a strong friend and ally in the United States. Right now, Putin sees a weak president and administration. We need to show Putin that we mean business.”

Ernst was elected to the Senate in 2015. A veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves who served in Iraq and Kuwait before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel after 23 years of service, she currently serves as the top Republican on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities.

She also serves as the Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, where she is leading the effort to find common sense, conservative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges people face. She talked about these challenges in her remarks, along with some of the concerns that have been raised to her by Iowans during her annual tour of all 99 counties of her home state.

“As I’m going around the state,” Ernst recounted, “it is apparent that Iowans are very frustrated, They are very concerned with the direction that the Biden Administration and the Democrats are taking our country. There are a couple of issues that continue to come up at every stop that I make around the state. One of course is inflation, which is the highest its been in nearly 40 years and is hitting our families very hard. Many families are being hit by huge heating bills. Of course, right now in Iowa, it is very cold and those bills have been skyrocketing. Energy costs are just simply overwhelming right now.”

According to Ernst, supply chain issues are another major problem facing Iowans.

“Our small business owners are really struggling to get their products out to market, she stated. “I stopped at a furniture business in Jones County last week and their shelves were bare. We’re calling it ‘Biden’s Bare Shelves.’ And we see that everywhere. If you go into my home community, we have two grocery stores and a Dollar General. And if you go into any one of those businesses at any time, you will find bare shelves because they are running into issues with the supply chain.”

Following her opening remarks, Ernst was asked about the Senate agenda in the coming months.

“Let’s be honest,” she began. “President Biden does not have a lot of wins so far over the past year, and we’ve seen a number of failures by this Administration. We have the State of the Union address coming up in another month, and he has to have something to talk about – and it has to be bipartisan. This is the President who ran on bringing the nation together. And yet here in the last couple of months, all we have seen are Democrats trying to destroy the Senate by further dividing us, not wanting to work with the minority party, and by getting rid of the filibuster.”

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.