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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I have just come to the floor, having listened to the minority leader, the Democratic Senator from New York, say something to the effect that he thought that President Trump's policies were not popular with the American people.

As he was saying this, I recalled a poll, a Harvard-Harris poll, conducted just this past week. Trump's policies--the key thing why he won election as President of the United States--huge popularity of what the President is doing today: promises that he made prior to the election, promises kept now that he is in the White House.

Let's take a look at No. 1--deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. Mr. President, 81 percent of the American people--and that includes a lot of Democrats--say that is a very popular position taken by President Trump and now being enforced by President Trump.

Eliminating fraud and waste in government expenditures--76 percent of Americans agree. What have we seen happen with DOGE? What we have seen is actually pointing out fraud and waste in government. The American people are supportive.

Then, of course, closing the border. Again, 76 percent of Americans-- Republicans, Democrats, Independents--all across the board support what President Trump is doing.

President Trump ran for office against a party that was a party of high prices and open borders, and it is because of those things that President Trump won and Republicans won the House and the Senate.

So now the minority leader comes to the floor and says that what President Trump is doing is not popular. Well, they sure are in terms of wasteful Washington spending and closing the border, which were the two reasons that President Trump and Republicans won the elections in November.

Let's talk about the things the American people care about. Republicans, President Trump--all of us promised to get America back on track. That is what we said we would do. That is what we are doing right now. We committed to cutting Washington's wasteful spending. We committed to reducing the size of a bloated government. This is going to make life more affordable for all Americans.

President Trump and Republicans are now doing exactly what we promised we would do. We are rooting out waste, we are rooting out fraud, and we are rooting out abuse by a bureaucracy, all across a bureaucracy. We are ripping it out root and stem.

The Department of Government Efficiency has already uncovered more than $55 billion in savings. Who benefits from the savings? The American taxpayers.

U.S. taxpayers were spending $2 million--take a look at this list--$2 million to develop ``sustainable recycling models'' in the Balkans. Well, we have canceled that.

U.S. taxpayers were spending $19 million on ``biodiversity conversation'' in Nepal. Well, that has been canceled.

U.S. taxpayers were spending $47 million to improve ``learning outcomes in Asia.'' We canceled that.

U.S. taxpayers were spending $1.5 million on ``voter confidence'' in Liberia, Africa. Well, we have canceled that.

U.S. taxpayers were spending $21 million for voter turnout in India. Canceled.

More savings are on the way.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, who we recently confirmed to that post, uncovered $20 billion--with a ``b''-- $20 billion in taxpayer money that the Biden EPA shoveled out the door on their last days before leaving office.

This was a slush fund, and it was funneled to eight leftwing climate groups. Now, all of this was in the service of the left's extreme, radical climate agenda--an agenda that makes energy more expensive and life less affordable for American families.

Who received these taxpayer-funded, undeserved gifts? Does anybody remember Georgia Democrat Governor candidate Stacey Abrams? Well, she was one of them. Her leftwing organization got a $2 billion kickback from the Biden administration. I am so glad that Ambassador Zeldin caught this scam and is working to claw back the money for the taxpayers of this Nation.

I heard the minority leader admit just this morning--he said: Of course there is some wasteful spending. He didn't mention any of those things. He didn't actually point out what it is. But I don't hear him say what wasteful spending he wants to cut. In fact, I haven't heard any Democrats say what wasteful spending, if any, should be cut. What about that $2 billion that was sent to Stacey Abrams?

Democrats added almost $5 trillion to our debt in 4 years. Joe Biden and Democrats' reckless spending caused painfully high prices.

Cutting wasteful Washington spending is long overdue. President Trump and Republicans are uncovering massive evidence of wasteful Washington spending, and we are stopping it.

Democrats seem more upset that the waste they support is now being exposed than about the massive waste itself. Instead of defending the indefensible and the obscene level of spending, what are they doing? What do the Democrats do? They are demanding that the courts intervene. Hey, let's get the courts involved. This is the next chapter of destructive Democrat behavior.

Democrats have now filed over 80 lawsuits in 1 month against the Trump administration. Now, often, they go judge shopping. What are they looking for? They are looking for partisan, activist judges.

So how does that work? Well, last month--and it is unbelievable--last month, the State of New Jersey wanted to sue the administration, so they filed suit not in New Jersey but in Massachusetts. They sued in a district where 11 of the 13 district judges were appointed by Democrat Presidents. They didn't think they could accomplish what they wanted to accomplish in their own home State, so they go to Massachusetts, one of the most liberal States in the country. That is not a coincidence. It is intentional. It is premeditated. What is the aim of it? It is to obstruct President Trump's popular cost-cutting efforts.

Let me tell you how far the Democrats are taking this. Earlier this month, a Federal judge in New York issued a knee-jerk order that forbids political appointees from accessing records within the Treasury Department. The judge actually went so far as to block the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, from accessing important data within the Agency that he runs, that he has been confirmed to serve as the Secretary of the Treasury by this very body, by the U.S. Senate, and you got a judge saying he doesn't have access to the Treasury records.

So a Federal judge blocks a Senate-confirmed Secretary of Treasury from getting the information he needs to run the U.S. Department of the Treasury. That is where the Democrats are headed.

District courts should not get to micromanage the executive branch. Yet that is what Democrats want to do with the courts, and that is why they have filed 80 lawsuits so far. It is not based on the law. It is not based on policy disagreements. This is based solely on political disagreements.

This is the real crisis we are facing in America. It is what I hear about in Wyoming. I heard about it this past weekend. It is unelected, unaccountable, heavyhanded Federal bureaucrats who have taken America off track. We are getting America back on track.

The American people are being strangled by Washington's wasteful spending, by burdensome redtape. According to a poll last month from the Associate Press, almost two in three Americans say government inefficiency is a major problem.

The bureaucracy must be accountable to the American people, and they are there to serve the American people. Americans voted in November for more accountability. They voted to drain the swamp. This is the swamp I am talking about, and that is exactly what President Trump is doing.

Working with President Trump, Senate Republicans are going to deliver on our mandate, and it is going to involve massive change in Washington because it is time, Mr. President, to get America back on track.

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