Trump Administration
Floor Speech
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Mr. PETERS. I would, thank you. Thank you, Senator Merkley, for yielding to me.
I do have a question for you. Certainly, I appreciate all that you have been saying over all of these hours. You are right; we are in a real crisis here in this country.
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Mr. PETERS. Would you yield for a question?
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Mr. PETERS. Thank you. I appreciate that. And again, thank you for bringing this to the attention of the American people in such an eloquent way.
First, I would just like to ask my colleague about how President Trump is pursuing a dangerous and authoritarian practice of basically picking winners and losers in government. Clearly, he is acting just like a King. As we have seen, he has picked winners and losers by illegally refusing to spend money that Congress has directed. He is picking winners and losers by withholding Federal grant funding for programs like disaster relief and medical research unless people basically bend a knee to his draconian demands.
He is picking winners and losers by firing nonpartisan experts in programs that he doesn't like, and he is replacing them with people whose only qualifications are that they are loyal to the President--the only qualification he cares about.
And in a classic authoritarian playbook, he is covering all this up by removing independent watchdogs that conduct oversight of Executive functions. One of the most egregious examples of this power grab is the ongoing effort to illegally withhold funding that Congress has authorized and appropriated, with bipartisan support, for critical services. He is withholding it. President Trump froze funding that helped Michigan communities build new radio towers, prepare for natural disasters, and construct safe and modern infrastructure.
And when the President breaks the law to give a windfall to some States and some communities but not others, he is picking winners and losers.
We have also seen how President Trump has picked winners and losers among the employees who work on critical government programs and protect our national security.
President Trump has fired tens of thousands of nonpartisan Federal employees, all because they carry out a function that the President simply doesn't like.
And just this week--just this week--President Trump's Department of the Interior fired hundreds of workers who protect the health and safety of the Great Lakes, an economic and ecological gem for Michigan and all the States that surround those lakes.
At every turn, President Trump has instituted policies that increase his power and sway so that he can more easily pick winners and losers among the Federal workforce. He has made it so that the only qualification for being a Federal worker is someone who voted for him, whether or not you actually do the job. In fact, he is taking us back to the spoils system of the 1800s. And it is not only politicizing our nonpartisan, expert civil service; it is jeopardizing our government's ability to deliver crucial services to the American people.
And like authoritarians in the past, President Trump doesn't want you to know about his illegal actions, so he is covering them up by undermining independent oversight at every single turn.
And when it comes to picking winners and losers, we know that President Trump always chooses himself as the winner. He blatantly uses the Office of the President to promote the sale of his own meme coins. He accepts large investments and gifts from foreign governments without regard for national security concerns or Federal ethics laws.
Meanwhile, his family and friends peddle influence and make deals to enrich themselves and the President. And what do all these efforts to enrich himself add up to? It is no surprise that his net worth has risen by $3 billion in the past year.
So I would like to ask my colleague from the great State of Oregon a question about these decisions to basically unlawfully pick winners and losers. What do you believe that means for the future of our country?
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