|
 Ernst, just two weeks into her Senate career, also appealed for
cooperation from Obama, saying Republicans would soon send him a
bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which she called a
"jobs bill."
"President Obama will soon have a decision to make: will he sign the
bill or block good American jobs?" she said. "There's a lot we can
achieve if we work together."
Ernst, the first woman elected to Congress from Iowa, is the latest
fresh face that Republicans have put forward to respond to Obama.
She was previously best known for an Iowa campaign commercial in
which she touted her family farm experience castrating hogs.
"When I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," she said in
the ad last year.
Republican leaders on Capitol Hill view Ernst as a symbol of the
Republican takeover of the Senate in November's elections, where she
handily won a Senate seat vacated by longtime liberal Democrat Tom
Harkin.
In her speech, she left out her campaign vow to make Washington
"squeal" and emphasized her hard-working rural upbringing that
included a fast-food job to save for college and her military
service.
She vowed that Republicans would keep fighting to replace Obama's
healthcare reform law, known as Obamacare, and "correct executive
overreach," a reference to Obama's executive actions on immigration.
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She also called for legislation to speed free trade deals with
European and Asia-Pacific countries, and called for reforming an
outdated tax code.
With a well-rehearsed, restrained but sometimes stiff delivery, she
avoided some of the gaffes that have plagued some fellow Republicans
who have responded to Obama's addresses.
Fellow Senator Marco Rubio of Florida still gets jabs from late
night comedians over his frequent use of a water bottle in 2013,
while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's awkward tone in responding
to Obama's first address in 2009 drew poor reviews from members of
his own party.
New Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida delivered a
Spanish version of the Republican response, but it included
something absent from Ernst's version, a call for immigration
reform. The son of Cuban immigrants said Congress should "work
through the proper channels to create permanent solutions to our
immigration system, to secure our borders, modernize legal
immigration, modernize and strengthen our economy."
(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Ken Wills)
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