Ranking Member Hoyer Opening Remarks at FSGG Hearing on the Office of Management and Budget
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered opening remarks at the FSGG hearing with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought. Below is a video and transcript of his remarks:
Click here to watch a full video of his remarks.
“Mr. Chairman. Mr. Director. Candidly, Director Vought, I think your agenda is a danger to our country, our Constitution, our people, and one that marginalizes the Congress and Article I to establish an imperial presidency. That's exactly the opposite of what our founders had in mind.
"What this administration has done under your direction mirrors what you did during Trump's first term, what you wrote in your Project 2025 chapter, and what you said in a ‘23 speech – 2023 – to members of the MAGA right. You had it quoted to you many times – as you probably know, I represent over 70,000 federal employees – a highly offensive statement: ‘We want the bureaucrats,’ which is so often used as an epithet, not a descriptor, ‘to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as villains. We want their funding to be shut down.’ Were the thousands of doctors, scientists, and cancer researchers DOGE fired from NIH villains? The more than 800 employees DOGE dismissed from NOAA, people who take, track hurricanes and protect Americans from storms, were they deep state agendas? What about the food inspectors, intelligence officers, National Park rangers, first responders, and countless others purged by this administration? They're just patriotic Americans trying to serve their country. [They] all received an email seeking their decision to leave the federal service, two point – plus million of them. What sort of message does that send?
“I think of a Marylander named Caitlin, who worked at the Center for Medical and Medicaid Innovation. After spending weeks agonizing over whether DOGE would fire her, she died of suicide back in February. I think of another Marylander, Monique, who worked for the Social Security Administration. She was forced to pick up more work as many of her colleagues took the buyout or fired by DOGE. The stress grew and grew until sitting at her desk in February, she died of a heart attack. Her friends and family are certain it was triggered by the stress she was under at work. No business on Earth could treat employees like this and expect efficiency to improve or their enterprise to succeed.
“There is no doubt efficiency has gone down. Backlogs have grown at the Social Security Administration, the VA, and other agencies. Federal employees now have to spend hours filling out paperwork just to order basic office supplies, something that used to take minutes. One of the first things OMB did after Trump took office was pause all federal loans and grants. That froze thousands of infrastructure projects that were already under construction across the country, an action taken with no regard – or no awareness, perhaps, of the consequences of those actions.
“The Trump Administration has traumatized Americans – not just federal employees – reduced efficiency, broken the law, and trampled on Congress's authority, and for what? We have every indication that DOGE will cost taxpayers more than it's going to save. Director Vought, you're going to play an even larger role in these efforts now that Elon Musk is reportedly leaving. This committee isn't going to ask you to summarize your work in five bullet points, or write essays to pass a loyalty test. We expect you to address the concerns of the American people. They have questions. I have questions. We owe them answers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”