Gallego Asks OMB Nom Bishop: Will You ‘Have The Best Interest Of The American People At Heart’?

1 minute ago

During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing held before the congressional recess, Sen. Ruben Gallego (R-AZ) questioned OMB Deputy Director Nominee Dan Bishop about OMB Director Russell Vought's agenda.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Bishop, good to see you. I think we served at least four years together for a little

00:05bit.

00:06That's right, Senator.

00:07So if confirmed, you'll serve alongside Director Vought, who said he wants federal employees

00:11to be traumatized, and we have seen that. I'm hearing horrible stories, especially from

00:16the veterans that I served with in the Iraq War. They do feel traumatized. They've actually

00:22served their country. These guys are actually Trump supporters. They have been doing different

00:26types of work for the government. Some of them have now been laid off. So mission accomplished

00:30along that route.

00:32Can you explain the thinking behind intentionally targeting people dedicated to serving their

00:37country? How can we trust that you're going to have the best interest of the American

00:41people at heart if the stated goal of OMB's leadership is to traumatize the very people

00:45who provide often some life-saving services to the public? And my concern, too, for some

00:50of these veterans is that they're not going to come back and work, or we're not going

00:55to be able to recruit a lot of these veterans to come back and work for the federal government

00:58at some point when we're going to need to have more support.

01:03You know, Senator, one of the things that's very interesting is that federal workers say

01:06in surveys that they have frustration that low performers can't be moved out, that they

01:14see problems in their own workplace that is the result of the way the bureaucracy operates.

01:22This quote that Director Vought has often talked about, about putting workers in trauma,

01:27I know because it's sort of taken out of context, and I know, I've watched the way he works

01:32with folks at OMB. He has the greatest regard for the professionals at OMB who are really

01:39stellar. And so change is difficult. There's going to need to be change to the federal

01:45government. I mean, we can all look at it and see that the $36 trillion of debt, the

01:49spending this $2 trillion a year in deficit, roughly, and going in the wrong direction,

01:54it has to be dealt with. And it's going to require change to the federal government,

01:58including to federal employees' situations. But I just, I disavow the and don't believe

02:04the idea, as many have said, that it's indiscriminate or it's designed to harm anybody. It is designed

02:10to put the government, the federal government, back on the side of the American people.

02:15I mean, when you're firing employees that we need for stuff, you know, it clearly is

02:18indiscriminate.

02:19Senator Scott.

02:20Sure.

Gallego Asks OMB Nom Bishop: Will You ‘Have The Best Interest Of The American People At Heart’?

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