Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 4241 and ask that it be reported by number.

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Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, we are at an inflection point right now in America's role in the world. As we reassess how we deploy our time, money, and political capital abroad, Congress has an obligation to ensure that taxpayer-funded organizations operate within the mission and guardrails Congress has established.

The National Endowment for Democracy was created to support democratic norms overseas, not to engage in domestic political advocacy or to amplify one side of America's internal debates. That distinction is essential to its legitimacy.

Yet there is ample evidence that NED has drifted from its statutory mission. Senior leadership and staff have used official positions to engage in domestic political advocacy, and NED funded a foreign organization that created ideological blacklists of conservative American media outlets.

These concerns go directly to whether NED is fulfilling the role Congress intended. That is why the President's budget included no funding for NED this year.

I requested the State Department inspector general investigate NED's leadership conduct and the use of taxpayer dollars. Until that investigation is complete--

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Mr. SCHMITT. I would argue that if we are true to advocating the democratic norms, accountability must come first in our own democracy.

I urge adoption of the amendment.

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