So I'm going to keep the promise we made to protect Social Security and Medicare for every senior who depends on them like my mom and dad.
Protect Social Security and Medicare for every senior who depends on them.
Occurrences
Evidence
The ad says Ernst would "protect Social Security and Medicare for every senior who depends on them."
Senate Vote 144 was final passage of H.R.2, a Medicare access bill; Ernst voted Yea and the bill passed 92-8.
Vote 84 concerned a point of order against Social Security cuts, retirement-age increases, or privatization; Ernst voted Nay and the motion failed.
Vote 338 was final passage of H.R.82 to repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision; Ernst voted Nay.
Vote 294 was final Senate concurrence on H.R.1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act vehicle; Ernst voted Nay and the motion agreed to 64-35.
The 2014 Ernst ad pledged to "protect Social Security and Medicare for every senior who depends on them."
Senate vote 144 passed H.R.2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act; Ernst voted Yea.
Vote 84 concerned a point of order against Social Security cuts, retirement-age increases, or privatization; Ernst voted Nay.
SSA says the Bipartisan Budget Act reallocated funds to pay full DI benefits into 2022 and reduced 2016 Medicare Part B premium increases for certain beneficiaries.
Senate vote 294 agreed to the H.R.1314 budget agreement motion, 64-35; Ernst voted Nay.
Senate vote 338 passed H.R.82, repealing Social Security pension-offset provisions; Ernst voted Nay.
The Senate roll-call table for the 119th Congress, 2nd Session lists votes through June 11, 2026, and no Social Security or Medicare entries appear in the table.
On June 5, 2026, Ernst voted Yea on S. 2, the Senate reconciliation bill, and the bill passed 52-47.
Assessments
Ernst made a campaign promise in 2014 to protect Social Security and Medicare for seniors. In her first Senate term she supported the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which is a real Medicare-related protection, but she also voted against procedural and final measures that would have protected Social Security benefits, and later opposed the Social Security Fairness Act. That is meaningful partial credit on Medicare, but not full delivery of the combined Social Security-and-Medicare promise.
The promise was broad, covering both Social Security and Medicare for every dependent senior. In her first Senate term, Ernst voted for H.R.2, a Medicare access bill that became law, so there is candidate-attributable same-term partial delivery on the Medicare side. But the evidence also shows she voted against Social Security-related protections and against the 2015 budget agreement that included Social Security disability financing and Medicare premium relief, and later voted against H.R.82's Social Security offset repeal. That record does not support full fulfillment of the promise.
Ernst made a broad federal promise to protect both Social Security and Medicare for seniors. The record shows some same-term delivery on Medicare: she voted for final passage of H.R.2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which protected Medicare access by replacing the physician payment formula. But the evidence does not support full fulfillment of the combined Social Security and Medicare promise. She opposed a 2015 procedural protection against Social Security cuts, retirement-age increases, or privatization, voted against the 2015 budget vehicle that included Social Security disability financing and Medicare Part B premium relief, and later voted against final passage of the Social Security Fairness Act. Because she supported a concrete Medicare protection but did not consistently protect Social Security benefits, the promise is best scored as partial rather than delivered or never.
Ernst supported at least one concrete Medicare protection in her first Senate term by voting for the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. But the broader promise covered protecting both Social Security and Medicare for every dependent senior, and the evidence includes votes against Social Security procedural protections, against a budget bill containing Social Security and Medicare protections, and against later Social Security offset repeal. That record supports partial fulfillment, not full delivery.