Show-Me State Times

U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) appeared on Newsmax’s American Agenda to discuss President Trump’s proposed rescissions package and new legislation he has introduced to increase penalties for assaults on ICE agents.

During the interview, Schmitt emphasized the importance of passing the rescissions package, which he described as a key part of President Trump’s agenda. “Everybody’s on the same page. The President has indicated, as you could tell by his Truth social over the weekend, this rescissions package is a very big deal, and it’s very important to him. It’s part of his core agenda. You have the nominations, you have reconciliation, and now rescissions. So, I think it’s really important for us to get this across the finish line and prove to the American people that $9 billion of incredibly wasteful spending – as you mentioned Sesame Street in Iraq, or environmentally friendly reproductive services in a foreign country, or DEI in Burma, or transgender surgeries in Guatemala – that we’ve got the political stomach to actually get rid of that stuff. And on top of it, of course, finally, stop providing federal dollars to NPR, which is a totally ideologically captured news organization that vilifies Republicans at every turn. They have a CEO that’s called President Trump a fascist. We shouldn’t be funding that with taxpayer dollars. That’s what this is all about.”

Schmitt noted that passage in the Senate would require only 51 votes under current rules: “It’s a full court press to make sure we have the votes to go do it. It’s a pretty unique opportunity. Normally in the Senate you need 60 votes to do things because the filibuster. Here, through this rescissions process as adopted by the statute in the 1970s, we only need 51 votes. The House has passed it, so we’ve just got to keep Republicans together on this. And my hope is that we’ll be able to do that to really cut out some wasteful spending. Then, maybe we get to more rescission packages. I think that’d be the game plan, too.”

The senator also discussed his newly introduced bill aimed at doubling federal penalties for assaulting ICE agents: “I think many on the left are trying to provoke something like that. I mean, all you have to do is read their own words. That’s what they’ve talked about. It’s even been reported that Democrats feel like they need to step up the rhetoric against ICE, which is totally ridiculous. And you’ve seen, because of that rhetoric, a 700 percent increase on attacks on ICE agents and the harassment that they’re receiving. And, by the way, from the same people who wanted to mask our five-year-old who now somehow don’t think that ICE agents should be able to wear masks to protect themselves and their families from being doxxed by crazy left-wing nut jobs. But we have legislation that we introduced this week that would double the penalties on any assault against ICE agents. If you’re going to do that, be prepared to potentially spend [40] years in prison.”

He continued: “Take a step back, take a deep breath. I understand that Trump Derangement Syndrome is real, but it shouldn’t manifest itself by wishing harm or creating the conditions that could harm ICE agents, who have families and are just doing their jobs to deport people who are here illegally. And in many cases, the worst of the worst. As President Trump’s articulated, there’s over 10,000 murderers in this country that were just let in by Joe Biden. There’s cartel gang members who are incredibly violent criminals. ICE agents are doing dangerous work to deport them from this country; they deserve our respect. While some Democrats have criticized this violent rhetoric, you don’t really hear it. But what you will not hear a single Democrat say is ‘you know what everybody take a step back and let the ICE agents do their jobs’. And the reason why you won’t hear that is because they’re for open borders and they don’t actually think anybody who’s here illegally should be sent back home. That’s what this is all about.”