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Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, there can be no doubt, Elon Musk is a patriot. He has revolutionized entire industries, whether it is PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink. Across his businesses, there are so many things that he could be working on, but when President Trump asked him to join the administration, he answered that call. He said yes, and he committed himself to serving the American people and helping get this fiscal house in order.
In many ways, he is tackling one of the biggest threats to our Nation's sovereignty, and that is our debt--$36 trillion in debt. He understands that our fiscal path is unsustainable. And today we are spending more money to service our debt than to fund our entire military.
As this debt grows, it will become more and more difficult to fund basic government functions. That is why he is leading the Department of Government Efficiency, trying to rein in reckless spending and to get this country back on the track to fiscal health.
Now, so far DOGE has had a lot of success. In just 2 months, they have identified $130 billion in potential savings by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse across the Federal Government. They hope that that number--and they fully expect that number--to reach $2 trillion by the time we get to Independence Day next year, which, by the way, will be our 250th birthday.
Every American should be applauding this effort. Our children and grandchildren's future depends on a free America.
But because he has been helping President Trump, he has become a target for the radical left, which has launched a domestic terrorism campaign against his company Tesla. In Las Vegas, suspects set Tesla vehicles on fire with Molotov cocktails; in Oregon, a man shot up a Tesla dealership; and across the country, Tesla owners have had their cars destroyed with arson and vandalism.
Now, some of these Democrat-aligned groups are organizing a ``Global Day of Action'' on Saturday to target Tesla. The reason for this campaign is simple.
In November, the American people rejected the left's radical agenda. They said: Enough of this. Well, our friends across the aisle have lost the debate, but instead of making a better pitch to voters, they are trying to stop Republicans with violence and intimidation.
The Democrats spent the last 4 years denouncing domestic terrorism and supporting EVs, yet now they are eerily silent. And when they do comment, they celebrate Tesla's setbacks. Tim Walz, Democrats' failed VP candidate, claimed he gets a daily boost from checking on Tesla's stock price, which has declined amid the terrorism campaign.
Democrat ally and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel seemed to endorse the violence, sarcastically telling his audience:
Don't ever vandalize Tesla vehicles.
Last week, Democrat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said all she wants for her birthday is to ``see Elon taken down.'' This rhetoric is inexcusable. And as the world's greatest legislative body, we should jointly condemn political violence. That is why I am asking for unanimous consent to pass the resolution that condemns the horrific acts of violence, arson, and domestic terrorism committed against Tesla dealerships and facilities. There is no reason why Democrats should oppose this resolution.
Res. 146, which is at the desk; further, I ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
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