[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1726-S1727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Department of Government Efficiency

  Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I spoke on this topic last week, but 
there is just so much more to talk about this week. This is about the 
important work that President Trump and Elon Musk and the other folks 
at DOGE are doing to save taxpayer dollars.
  Just this past week, DOGE canceled contracts within NIH, including 
$75,000 for researching and studying structural racism; $620,000 for an 
LGB+ teen pregnancy prevention program for transgender boys--let me 
repeat that because it is hard to follow: an LGB+ teen pregnancy 
prevention program for transgender boys--$699,000 for studying cannabis 
use among sexual minority, gender-diverse individuals; $740,000 for 
examining social networks among Black and Latino sexual minority men in 
New Jersey; $50,000 for assessing sexual health among LGBTQ+ Latinx 
youth in an agricultural community.
  The State Department, with Secretary of State Rubio, are canceling 83 
percent of the programs under USAID. What is being cut: $4 million for 
engineering services in Liberia, $1.1 million for an online climate 
change tool, $4 million for assessing primary education in Kenya, and 
much, much more.
  And at the EPA, Secretary Zeldin canceled over 400 DEI and 
environmental justice grants across 9 grant programs that total $1.7 
billion, bringing the EPA's total savings to over $2 billion.
  And wait until you hear this: According to reports from the Daily 
Wire, $2 billion in funding was directed toward a group called Power 
Forward Communities. Who runs Power Forward Communities? That would be 
Stacey Abrams.
  And let me just opine, just for a second, on why my Democratic 
colleagues on the other side are so nervous about all this DOGE stuff. 
It is because of this racket that has been used to launder taxpayer 
dollars to their buddies and their leftwing, radical groups. The gravy 
train is stopping, and it is terrifying to them.

[[Page S1727]]

  But to normal people, in real America, they think this stuff is 
crazy. And, finally, we have somebody in the Oval Office with a team 
that can root this stuff out. So keep going. We are just getting 
started with this stuff, and we will be back next week with more 
ridiculous things that the Democrats want funded with your taxpayer 
dollars.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.