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There are a couple of major pieces of legislation U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst wants to see passed before she leaves the Capitol in early January.
The Farm Bill and the National Defense Authorization Act are among them, the Republican said Thursday during a visit to Fort Dodge.
She added that a bill she authored to put an end to some secretive federal accounting practices awaits action by President Donald Trump.
Ernst was in Fort Dodge Tuesday to present Todd and Nate McCubbin, owners of ShinyTop brewing, 520 Central Ave., with her Small Business of the Week Award.
Ernst is the chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee and in that capacity she has been recognizing a Small Business of the Week in every Iowa county every week.
ShinyTop Brewing was actually named her Small Business of the Week in July. On Thursday, Ernst presented the McCubbins with a copy of the statement she read on the Senate floor about Shiny Top Brewing.
Tillie's Quilts, 17 S. 12th St., was an Ernst Small Business of the Week honoree in January 2024.
Following her presentation and a short tour of Shiny Top Brewing, Ernst talked about what she wants to get done in the Senate before her term ends in early January. She decided not to seek reelection. Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek are vying to replace her.
No. 1 on Ernst's' to-do list is a new Farm Bill.
"I really want to see the Farm Bill reauthorized before I go," she said.
The House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill early this year that includes a provision allowing yearround use of E15 ethanol. That bill awaits Senate action.
Ernst said the vote of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, is needed to "get it over the finish line." However, McConnell has been absent from the Senate chamber for weeks because of health problems.
The other big pieces of legislation Ernst would like to see completed is the National Defense Authorization Act which sets spending levels for the Pentagon. But on Thursday she did not seem optimistic about getting that done, saying it may be too big of a task.
The bill she wrote that has made it to Trump's desk is called the Stop Secret Spending Act. She said it addresses a vague spending line item used by federal agencies called other transaction account.
"You don't know what that money is being spent on," she said. "They'll slip a lot of their spending under OTA."
She said her bill would require any expenditures under the OTA category to be listed on usaspending.gov.
She said she expects Trump to sign it.
Another bill on wasteful spending that Ernst wrote, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, passed the Senate and is in the House. She said that under that bill anytime a federal project goes over-budget by a specified amount a report explaining why will be required.
Ernst also offered a suggestion on how to shore up the Social Security Trust Fund, which will not have enough money to pay full benefits after 2030.
She said that currently, taxpayers don't have to pay Social Security taxes after their income reaches a certain level. She suggested raising that level so that the taxes will be collected on higher incomes.
"I think that would be acceptable to a lot of people," she said.