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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHMITT. That is why we have our system of federalism, three branches of government, separation of powers. All was meant to disperse government so that no one branch, no one person ever got too powerful.
But the underlying belief that would save this system of self- government was that people would be accountable to the people, that if you sent somebody up here and you agreed with them, you would send them back or you would send them home.
What we have seen, particularly in the last hundred years, is the growth of an administrative state that isn't accountable to anybody. That is the truth.
I was in Northwest Missouri a couple of years ago, and a farmer told me: Eric, I just don't ever remember voting for the Deputy Under Secretary of the EPA.
He had a point. A guidance letter--not even a rule and certainly not even a law--can destroy a farmer's livelihood in a farm they have had for generations. Or take for example the abuses we saw during COVID. The Supreme Court--I know something about this. I was the AG that brought the case. The vaccine mandate. They didn't have any authority to force a medical procedure on 100 million people, but they wanted to do it anyway. Student loan debt forgiveness. There was no authority to wipe away half a trillion dollars' worth of student loan debt with the stroke of a pen, but they did it anyway.
These are big, broad discussions. The Supreme Court has weighed in. The major questions doctrine. They have been reining in the abuses of government now in unelected bureaucrats over the last decade.
Of course, with the overturning of the Chevron decision, the ball is now in our court to sort of reassert the article I branch's role that we are the ones--if you want to ban gas stoves, we should have to vote on it.
So this bill, what it does--it blatantly infringes upon executive prerogative to shape the executive workforce. So the courts have weighed in, and dare I say the American people weighed in just about a month ago. There is no secret that President Trump ran on greater government efficiency and reducing the size of government.
This is another effort to Trump-proof before January 20. We are seeing a wholesale auction of the border wall for less than 1 percent of its value. It is happening right now to thwart what is coming. These sort of efforts that are happening behind the scenes and now here on the Senate floor are intended to do one thing, which is to prevent President Trump from executing on what he campaigned on, which is government efficiency.
About 16 percent of the Federal workforce right now is in any one of those buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue. I think that over the coming months, with the DOGE committee and some of those efforts--and I hope we can work in a bipartisan way. I agree, this shouldn't be a partisan issue. Saving money should not be a partisan issue. And there are some people that probably need to go. There are great Federal workers in our Federal workforce, but we are wasting a lot of money, and people aren't even willing to show up to work right now.
So having flexibility to deliver on the message that people saw cross their television screens and in rallies all across this country over the last 2 years during the Presidential campaign--that is what this is about. This bill would thwart those efforts, and that is why I am objecting.
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