Aside from a brief swipe at President Obama, freshman Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) avoided hot-button social issues on Thursday during her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Ernst focused instead on issues of veterans affairs, but refrained from directly mentioning the VA scandal surrounding former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.
“We need to stand up here at home to ensure our veterans receive the quality of care they were promised and deserve,” the senator said.
Ernst praised the U.S. veterans as “America’s tenacious survivors,” and said that they all share “the common belief of the greatness of America.”
Amid her talk of veterans, Ernst added that she sits on the Senate Armed Services committee, and is working on pressuring the Obama administration to concoct a winning strategy against the Islamic State terror group.
“Congress must hold President Obama accountable to ensure he and his administration finally develop a cohesive and strong strategy to confront these and many other threats we face,” she said.
