Adversarial verification upholds the CHAMPIONED rating. Three of four cited sources are directly reachable and their quotes are verbatim-accurate; the fourth is corroborated despite a bot-block. (1) ernst.senate.gov press release (PRIMARY): reachable; the cited quote "It's past time to permanently ban the bacon from the legislative process, and finally put an end to one of Washington's swampiest traditions" appears exactly. It documents Ernst joining the effort to permanently ban earmarks and opposing their return, and references her prior op-eds urging a permanent prohibition. Supports both prongs. (2) daines.senate.gov press release (PRIMARY): reachable; the cited cosponsor sentence naming "Joni Ernst (Iowa)" appears verbatim, on a page headlined that senators "introduced legislation to permanently ban earmarks." Confirms she cosponsored the permanent-ban bill — active leadership, not a mere vote. (3) Bleeding Heartland, Nov 17 2025 (REPUTABLE_SECONDARY): reachable; the cited sentence "Ernst and Grassley have not participated in the earmarks process in recent years either" appears verbatim. Supports the "oppose any effort to bring it back" prong holding up over multiple years, including personal abstention as recently as Nov 2025. (4) congress.gov S.501 (PRIMARY): WebFetch returned HTTP 403 (a bot-block, not a dead link). The cited quote is only the bill's official title, "Earmark Elimination Act of 2021," which is independently corroborated by congress.gov's own indexed page title (surfaced via search) and by GovTrack and TrackBill. Least load-bearing source; its function (establishing the bill name) is verified by corroboration. The CHAMPIONED outcome — she cosponsored permanent-ban legislation, publicly advocated for it, and personally abstained from earmarks for years — is well-supported by the reachable primary/secondary sources with verbatim-accurate quotes, and does not overstate the evidence. The rating is also transparent that the statutory ban itself failed (earmarks returned as Community Project Funding), which correctly keeps this at CHAMPIONED rather than a clean FULL. No fabricated quotes, no source that fails to support the outcome. Confidence just below the original 0.88 to reflect that one primary source could not be fetched directly (only corroborated).