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Joni Ernst Provokes Outrage with Sarcastic Video After 'We All Are Going to Die' Remark

Her Instagram non-apology follows criticism of GOP proposals to shrink Medicaid as the budget bill advances in the Senate

Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, arrives for a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Sen. Joni Ernst speaks during a town hall at Aplington-Parkersburg High School on May 30, in Parkersburg, Iowa.
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Overview

  • At a Parkersburg town hall, Sen. Joni Ernst dismissed warnings that Medicaid cuts would cause deaths by retorting, “we all are going to die.”
  • In a cemetery-shot Instagram video, Ernst offered a mock apology and urged viewers to “embrace” Jesus rather than retracting her comment.
  • The Senate is now reviewing a reconciliation bill that would cut $880 billion from Health and Human Services over ten years and impose work requirements projected by the CBO to leave 7.6 million Americans uninsured.
  • Some Senate Republicans, including Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski, have expressed reservations about the Medicaid reforms while GOP leaders defend them as necessary to curb waste and protect eligible recipients.
  • Democratic voices such as Sen. Chris Murphy and DNC chair Ken Martin have condemned Ernst’s response as emblematic of a callous Republican stance on social safety nets and the human cost of budget cuts.