Sen. Joni Ernst’s Family Took Almost Half a Million Dollars in Government Subsidies

Yeah, she grew up poor alright. So poor that Sen. Joni Ernst, the Republican Senator who gave the Republican’s official response to the State of The Union Address, said that as a kid, she had to put “plastic bread bags” over her “one good pair of shoes” to keep them from getting wet when it rained.

Reports now shows that Senator Ernst family collected almost half a million dollars in farm subsidies from the United States government.

Farm subsidy records indicate that the freshman senator’s father, Richard Culver, has received $38,395 in commodity subsidies and conservation payments, with all but $12 of the money being used for support of his corn crops. Ernst’s uncle, Dallas Culver, has reportedly received $250,000 in federal corn subsidies and $117,141 in additional aid. And her paternal grandfather, Harold Culver, got an additional $57,479 in aid between 1995 and 2001.

Ernst did not mention her family’s use of federal programs during her response to the State of the Union. Instead, she said she was raised “simply” and taught to live within her means.

“I had only one good pair of shoes. So on rainy school days, my mom would slip plastic bread bags over them to keep them dry,” she said. “But I was never embarrassed. Because the school bus would be filled with rows and rows of young Iowans with bread bags slipped over their feet. Our parents may not have had much, but they worked hard for what they did have.”

She later promised that the new Republican-controlled Congress would “propose ideas that aim to cut wasteful spending and balance the budget.”