U.S. Senate · researched profile
Chair, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Joni Ernst is a Republican senator from Iowa, first elected in 2014. Her official Senate biography records more than 23 years of military service, including command duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and earlier service as Montgomery County auditor and an Iowa state senator.
Profile updated Aug 16, 2026
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Joni Ernst is a Republican senator from Iowa, first elected in 2014. Her official Senate biography records more than 23 years of military service, including command duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and earlier service as Montgomery County auditor and an Iowa state senator.
Open biography & office record ↓Joni Ernst is a Republican senator from Iowa, first elected in 2014. Her official Senate biography records more than 23 years of military service, including command duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and earlier service as Montgomery County auditor and an Iowa state senator.
Ernst currently chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Her official biography also lists Armed Services, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, with additional subcommittee chair responsibilities.
In April 2026, Ernst’s office and the Small Business Committee reported that changes to the SBIR-STTR research programs she had championed were signed into law. The site records that as sourced legislative activity rather than as a claim controversy.
The Senate Small Business Committee reported that Ernst-backed SBIR/STTR reauthorization and reform legislation was signed into law in 2026.
