Joni Ernst: “the COVID pandemic is over, and the emergency spending spree should be over too. The COVID-era ObamaCare boosts were…”

“the COVID pandemic is over, and the emergency spending spree should be over too. The COVID-era ObamaCare boosts were temporary, and now those temporary benefits are set to return to pre-COVID levels--exactly as the law intended. These emergency measures were for an actual emergency, not a forever program and definitely not a backdoor expansion of ObamaCare. Healthcare costs increased for everyone during the Biden years, not just those with ObamaCare. We need a plan that brings down healthcare costs for everyone. In addition to ending the emergency spending spree, as the law says, we need to claw back every last COVID slush fund dollar before Washington finds a new way to waste it. There are billions of dollars still sitting in the U.S. Treasury with 'for COVID' written on them. This summer, the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, identified $65 billion--that is billion with a 'b'--still in COVID slush funds. Let's close the book, return to reality, and give taxpayers the accountability they have long demanded--because, yes, their hard-earned money ended up paying for binge-drinking monkeys in Oregon. What? Let's hear you all say: What? It is unbelievable, but it is true. The Oregon Health and Science University raked in more than $1.8 million for this. In one study, monkeys were fed 8 to 16 alcoholic drinks a day to see how their chronic boozing affects COVID-19. Taxpayers didn't sign up for that, and it is long past time we put a stop to it.”