Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) doubled on Saturday about his impertinent comments about people who die due to Medicaid cuts in a new Instagram video that seemed to be recorded in a cemetery.
During a City Council on Friday, Ernst was pressed on the tax bill of President Donald Trump, who would cut Medicaid to help finance a new round of tax cuts for the rich and corporations. The legislation is expected to force 10 million people from Medicaid, the Government Health Insurance Program for low -income and disabled American.
When a audience member shouted: «People are going to die,» Ernst replied: «Well, we are all going to die.» Its disturbing joke attracted the headlines throughout the country and appeared prominently on the cover of THE DES MOINS REGISTRATION On Saturday.
In a video posted in his Instagram story on Saturday, Ernst, who is in re -election next year, decided that it was advisable to make fun of their voters who do not want to die due to the lack of medical insurance.
«Hello everyone. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to sinitely apologize for a statement I made yesterday in my town hall,» he says in the clip, that he has gravestones in the distance behind her. «Look, I was in the process of answering a question that had been a member of the audience, when a woman who was extremely distressed, shouted from the rear corner of the auditorium,» people are going to die. «And I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we will all perish this land.»
«So I apologize,» Ernst concludes, «and I am very, very happy not to have had to mention the theme of the tooth fairy. But for those who would like to see eternal and eternal life, I encourage you to hug my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.»
The president of the National Democratic Committee, Ken Martin, said in a statement on Saturday: «Thoughts and prayers have a new meaning for the Republican Party with Joni Ernst doubling their cruel words. It is immoral and not Christian to do nothing to prevent people from dying, but unfortunately, Trump, Ernst and the Republican party are in the hell of putting their own constituents at risk.»
Ernst had tried to defend Medicaid cuts on Friday as necessary to ensure that undocumented immigrants are not in Medicaid. It is a favorite republican conversation issue, but this is a shameless lie: undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid. Of the 10 million Americans who are expected to lose Medicaid under the project of Republican Taxes, none of them are undocumented immigrants.
Trump’s tax bill would force millions to Medicaid by imposing work requirements for the so -called «bodyless» adults, demanding that they work or be volunteers at least 80 hours a month. A problem with this idea is that many Medicalid beneficiaries cannot work, but have not been approved for disability benefits, which is an onerous process. Those beneficiaries will lose their insurance.
The Medicaid program also contains strict income limits that require beneficiaries to win a lot of money. Together, Republicans effectively demand that Medicaid beneficiaries work on low -income jobs to maintain their health insurance, and additionally the additional bureaucracy will certainly result in many eligible beneficiaries to lose coverage.
Ernst promised Friday that Republicans «focus on those who are more vulnerable,» and added that «Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa.»
Ernst did a position in X thanking people for coming to the City Council. «I always enjoy listening to the constituents and sharing my work to cut the government bureaucracy,» he wrote. The publication is 270 and 2,000 comments.
(Tagstotranslate) Donald Trump (T) Medical Care (T) Joni Ernst (T) Medicaid (T) Republicans
