Opinion: Biden-Harris undervaluing our heroes and underwriting our adversaries

By Sen. Joni Ernst

Vice President Kamala Harris laughs off her flip-flopping on issue after issue by insisting her positions may be shifty, but her “values have not changed.” So how do we even know what those values might be? Harris’ boss, Joe Biden, says, “show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value. ”Well folks, the Biden-Harris budgets sure do tell us a lot about what this administration values! While underbudgeting promises made to veterans by $15 billion, millions of dollars are being paid to the very terrorists many of those veterans fought on the battlefield! Since the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan that cost the lives of 13 brave servicemembers, the Biden-Harris administration may have paid $293 million or more to the Taliban or other groups with ties to terrorism. As a result, the blood, weapons, and now the taxes, of Americans are in the hands of the Taliban.

The State Department can’t say for sure who they even gave the money to because Biden’s bureaucrats didn’t do the required background checks before dispersing the cash … and then “lost” the paperwork. The Biden-Harris administration also can’t account for millions more going to China. Tax dollars intended for defending our nation are instead being funneled into dangerous laboratories in the communist country, including a Chinese pharmaceutical firm’s risky research on Ebola and the COVID-19 virus. Another $2 million intended for health research is being sent to a different Chinese biotech company to support lab experiments on dogs and other animals.

Yet again, it’s impossible to get a full accounting of how much the administration is sending to China or for what purposes because they aren’t keeping records. And, while the Biden-Harris team is padding the budgets of Chinese pharmaceutical companies with millions of U.S. tax dollars, health care costs are becoming increasingly unaffordable for Americans thanks to Bidenomics. This budgeting makes very clear the vice president doesn’t value taxpayers and that is why I gave my September 2024 Squeal Award to the Biden-Harris White House.If Americans must report every dollar earned to Washington, then the same level of accountability needs to apply to spending those dollars.

First off, the Biden-Harris administration needs to stop giving tax dollars to terrorists. Furthermore, I am introducing the Chinese Laboratory Accountability and Watchful Spending (CLAWS) Act requiring all taxpayer-funded biomedical research in China be disclosed to the public. Once the expenditures required by CLAWS are showing, then we will claw it back.

I am stopping Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from undervaluing our heroes and underwriting our adversaries.

Joni Ernst, a native of Red Oak and a combat veteran, represents Iowa in the United States Senate.