Letter to the Editor: Consistency is key

In her recent Newton News opinion piece, “Bringing gravy trains to a squealing halt,” Sen. Joni Ernst targets California’s ambitious plans to construct high speed rail in the state that would cut travel times, relieve road congestion, and reduce fossil fuel consumption. In boasting of her multi-year efforts to sabotage this project, which is mostly (85 percent) funded by California taxpayers, Ernst erroneously reports that “not a single track has been laid,” ignoring the fact that track-laying began 8 months ago. Her attack on various federally funded programs conveniently sidesteps her support for the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which simultaneously slashes health and nutrition programs while increasing tax cuts for the wealthy and advancing large Pentagon increases for counterproductive programs. One of the most egregious examples of the latter is Trump’s creation of a $175 billion “Golden Dome” missile defense system to be completed in three years. Independent experts conclude that pursuing the fantasy of national missile defense will fail to work as intended, incentivize China and Russia to double down on building up their nuclear arsenals, and cost the U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars, which are not covered by revenues. Moreover, this program will compete with other strategic expenditures that are critically needed to maintain the viability of the U.S. deterrent, such as the Columbia Class Strategic Ballistic Missile Submarine and the B-21 Strategic Bomber. Sen. Ernst wants credit for her “Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act,” but does not want to be consistent in her principles for determining what should apply. As a member of the Senate Defense Committee, she should know better.

Greg Thielmann is a native of Newton and a 1972 graduate of Grinnell College. He worked 31 years for the Federal Government (OMB, the US Foreign Service, and the Senate Intelligence Committee) and 7 years for the Arms Control Association before retiring to lowa in 2023.