[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, with me this afternoon are three of my 
colleagues from my office: Ms. Jess Andrews, my communications 
director; Mr. Henson Webre; and Mr. John Lowery. As I said, they are 
three of my colleagues in my office. I depend on their counsel and 
their advice and their good judgment every day.
  I want to talk for a few minutes about public broadcasting in 
America, but first I want to make a brief comment about the continuing 
saga that our new President is doing, in my judgment, a good job of 
prosecuting here in Washington. I am talking about his audits of 
Federal Government spending and all of the wasteful spending--I call it 
spending porn--that he is finding.
  I want to make two quick points.
  No. 1, it strikes me as breathtakingly ironic--the Senate might say 
cynical--that the people who are screaming so loudly about President 
Trump's decision to audit Federal spending are the very same people 
who, under President Biden, wanted to hire 80,000 new IRS agents--with 
guns--to audit the American people. As I have said before, if it 
weren't for double standards, there wouldn't be any standards at all in 
this town.
  The battle lines are drawn. The battle lines are drawn. Some of my 
colleagues have decided to support the bureaucracy and the spending 
porn over the American taxpayer. That is what they have done. And some 
of the same people--it is not just my Democratic colleagues. There are 
many people in Washington, DC, who have grouped together. They have 
circled the wagons, and they have decided to support the spending porn 
and the bureaucrats over the American taxpayer. That is their right. It 
is not against the law or unconstitutional to be foolish in America. 
But these are the same people--these are the same people--who chose to 
support illegal immigration over the rule of law. These are the same 
people who have chosen to support teachers unions over parents and 
kids. These are the same people who have chosen to support criminals 
over cops and victims. These are the same people who have chosen to 
support transgender athletes over women's sports. These are the same 
people who have chosen to support Hamas over Israel.
  They think they are winning. Maybe in this town--in this town--they 
are if you listen to a lot of the pundits up here, if you listen to a 
lot of the members of the ``wokerati'' in Washington, but they are not 
winning in America. The justice stick is coming, and I am very proud to 
be a part of that effort.