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Floor Speech
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Mrs. CAPITO. I want to thank the Senator from Oklahoma for his leadership on this. We are just getting started here. So I am very excited, as I know all of us are, to embark on a serious mission of not just government waste but pulling in our government spending to make it make sense and more toward a balanced budget. California Wildfires
Mr. President, before I begin, I would like to say a few words about the tragedy unfolding on the west coast. I know many of us have been looking at the television and watching the structure fires and heard from friends who have children there or are themselves there, and I think it is just unimaginable. So I just want to let them know in California that we are praying for them and their families, for their safety, and that hopefully this will all come under control sooner than later.
But I have seen this on the TV, and I would say it from this podium, that I urge all residents, if you are told to evacuate, don't waste any time. It sounds like quick and fast evacuations are smart and are being advised. So please be super careful as we move through this tragedy.
You know, Americans are resilient people, but the Californians and the Los Angelenos are being asked for a lot right now, so it is really tough. Department of Government Efficiency
Mr. President, so today I am going to speak about an issue that weighs heavily on the American worker and taxpayer, and this is the waste, fraud, and abuse rampant in our Federal Government. When I say ``heavy,'' I mean really heavy, really heavy, because billions of hard- earned taxpayer dollars are at stake here.
Under President Biden, wasteful government spending has just spiraled out of control, harming our hard-working Americans and their livelihood. Each misspent dollar represents a missed opportunity for our neighbors, our communities, our families.
But that is going to end with this incoming administration and, I think, the control of the House and the Senate. In the 119th Congress, Federal spending comes with a promissory note of accountability to the American people. No more spendthrift bureaucrats getting out of line. No more blank checks or wild excesses. The American people have had enough and rightfully so. They are ready for the government to work for them.
Republicans are proud to have the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE. I remember I probably heard DOGE, what, about a month ago? I am wondering, What is this? I know that Elon and Vivek are both very busy men. So I want to thank them especially for conceiving this idea and dedicating their time and energy and gathering other folks' help to eliminating government waste.
Like a one-two punch, Congress and the DOGE Commission will identify and address the most flagrant abuses of the Federal bureaucracy. DOGE will provide the ideas from these two men, and Congress will bring the constitutional oversight and legislative authority.
We plan to hit the ground running, really, on day one of the Trump administration, to take aim at the worst excesses left over.
When it comes to wasteful government spending in the jurisdiction of my committee, which is the Environment and Public Works Committee--I am very thrilled, as of yesterday's meeting, to become the new chairman there--look no further than the groundwork we laid last year through the investigations of my committee. We worked on looking at the spending in the massive, bloated, ill-conceived Inflation Reduction Act. The so-called IRA, which was a bill passed with only Democrat votes, authorized billions of dollars in new handouts from EPA to the Democrat-aligned groups.
Recently, an EPA employee actually admitted that its current grant- making process--that means between now and January 20, when President Trump takes over--he equated it to being akin to ``throwing gold bars off the Titanic.'' That should send chills to every American taxpayer-- ``throwing gold bars off the Titanic.'' We have reached unprecedented levels of waste, fraud, and abuse.
The American people rejected this kind of reckless governance in November through their voice at the ballot box. Bureaucrats are desperately--right now, as we speak--writing checks because come January 20, they know President Trump will take the checkbook away and ask for accountability.
My committee already issued a clear warning to the EPA in a letter in December. We demanded to know who is getting these gold bars that are being thrown off the Titanic and in what amounts. Most importantly, we want a clear paper trail so the bureaucrats at the EPA can't bury wasteful spending on the way out the door.
The committee has already uncovered handouts to groups that are anti- American, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-police, and anti-border security. That is it--not a dollar more. For example, of the $3 billion of the IRA dedicated to the new environmental and climate justice block grant program through the IRA, the EPA announced over the last several months that it would give $50 million to Climate Justice Alliance, $50 million to the New York Immigration Coalition, and $100 million to the NDN Collective. The Climate Justice Alliance promotes wildly anti- Semitic rhetoric. The New York Immigration Coalition advocates for radical open border policies. Most egregiously--remember, this is the one getting $100 million--the NDN Collective goes as far as to call America an evil country.
Let me be clear. These groups should not and will not receive one dime of taxpayer dollars. The American people should be outraged, as I am--I think you can tell my voice is getting a little bit louder here-- at the abuse of their tax dollars. These funds were meant to benefit them, not to prop up radical political groups or line the pockets of bureaucrats with questionable priorities. Taxpayer dollars should never go to organizations that hate America or our values. It is pretty simple when you put it like that.
To those who say that there is no alternative, that government is and always will be wasteful, I say look to the State of West Virginia. My home State consistently generates large budget surpluses, demonstrating that we can protect our values and our interests without recklessly spending the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars.
I think it is time to bring some good old West Virginia thrift to the bureaucracy in Washington, DC. Many of our States are operating under the same parameters. With the President, the House, the Senate, and the DOGE Commission all on the same page, working together, we are poised to do just that. If we are to spend taxpayers' dollars, I do not believe there is an article I role for unlimited government spending; it must be in the furtherance of the benefit of our Nation. The American taxpayers deserve a government that respects their hard-earned dollars.
The relationship between the government and its citizens has been frayed by years of neglect, waste, and distrust. Mending this relationship will not happen overnight. It is a long process. It is a process Republicans are prepared to take, to embrace, and undertake. We will end the reckless spending spree, we will put an end to bureaucratic waste, and we will aim to ensure that every dollar that leaves the Federal Treasury is used in service to the American people. This is our commitment to rebuild trust, to prioritize the needs of the people, and to ensure that the government serves them, not the other way around.
Thank you, my fellow Senator. I appreciate it, and I look forward to working with all of us here on this very important issue.
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