Hickenlooper: “It’s time to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt what Mr. Vought and his Project [2025] are trying to do.”
Senate Democrats held the Senate floor overnight to oppose Vought’s nomination
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor against the nomination of Russell Vought, President Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Budget and Management (OMB). Hickenlooper’s remarks come ahead of the final confirmation vote, where he will vote “No” on Vought.
“If confirmed, Mr. Vought and Project 2025 could have devastating consequences for Colorado,” Hickenlooper said on the Senate floor.
“…At a time when grocery prices are rising on everything from eggs to meat, Project 2025 is going to make life harder for Colorado farmers and ranchers – and more risky,” he continued. “Project 2025 would cut safety nets for our Ag producers when they have a bad season…Hanging small farmers out to dry does nothing to lower grocery prices for [Americans].”
“…I will oppose every nominee that poses a genuine threat to Coloradans. That’s why I’m here on the floor and will vote “No” on Mr. Vought today.”
“…It’s time to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt what Mr. Vought and his Project [2025] are trying to do.”
The OMB oversees the performance of federal agencies and administers the federal budget. Vought previously served as acting OMB director during President Donald Trump’s first term and was a primary architect of Project 2025, which details MAGA Republicans’ far-right agenda to dismantle the federal government under a Trump administration.
Last week, in response to an executive order from President Trump, the OMB ordered a freeze on all federal grants and loans. The pause threatened hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, which would have impacted thousands of organizations in Colorado and hurt millions of Americans.
On Monday, a federal court issued a restraining order against the Trump administration, extending a temporary pause on the President’s plan.
More information about how a freeze would impact Coloradans is available HERE.
Yesterday, Hickenlooper posted a video to social media where he commits to use every tool at his disposal, including opposing any nominees who will harm Colorado, to disrupt the administration’s illegal actions. This morning, Hickenlooper joined Democrats in holding the Senate floor overnight to oppose Trump’s nominee.
To download a full video of Hickenlooper’s remarks, click HERE. A full transcript of his remarks is available below:
“Mr. President,
“I take to the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote “No” on President Trump’s nominee to the Office of Budget and Management, Russell Vought.
“Some remember Mr. Vought from when he served as the head of the same agency during President Trump’s first term. He is one of the very few “repeat” appointments – clearly a reflection of his loyalty.
“You may also know him for his leadership – his authoring – of Project 2025, that far-right agenda that the President – during the campaign – swore up and down he had no idea about.
“And I believe that, although I think he understood many discussions, perhaps outlined the framework.
“Project 2025 would gut our longstanding and globally admired framework of checks and balances. It would gut them. It would ensure civil servants would be hired and fired on the basis of political loyalty – something that this country has struggled for many decades to get rid of.
“It would truly weaponize our system of justice. Again something that almost everyone works towards keeping nonpartisan.
“It lays out in detail a plan to dramatically change our American system of government – perhaps for a very long time.
“It’s really not a question of “if” anymore. The plan and the people putting it in place are disregarding laws and norms dating back to the Constitution. They are throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
“This means firing or pushing out vast swaths of the federal workforce of civil servants. These are career civil servants, many of whom have devoted their lives to keeping our government running – from processing social security checks, and keeping our weather systems afloat, or helping to stop waste, fraud and abuse.
“Some would say our federal workers don’t do anything. But they are honest, hard-working Americans.
“Project 2025 is just getting started. If confirmed, Mr.Vought and Project 2025 could have devastating consequences for Colorado.
“Deep in Project 2025 are plans to heavily restrict access to contraceptives and abortion medication, denying women and families the freedom to make their own reproductive decisions.
“Plans to make health care more expensive by repealing policies that empower Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and drive down the cost of health care for seniors.
“Plans to make Colorado less resilient to these increasingly frequent disasters caused by extreme weather.
“And they’re already reinstating cruel immigration policies, and threatening to come after the LGBTQ+ community.
“At a time when grocery prices are rising on everything from eggs to meat, Project 2025 is going to make life harder for Colorado farmers and ranchers – and more risky.
“Project 2025 would cut safety nets for our Ag producers when they have a bad season. It includes plans to gut essential crop insurance. Project 2025 even wants government to get involved in the specific techniques our ranchers use to farm.
“Now, our Colorado farmers know their land better than anyone else. Hanging small farmers out to dry does nothing to lower grocery prices for America.
“We’ve been hearing in our offices from producers across the state who are very concerned about what this Project 2025 means to them. We have over 38,000 farm operations in Colorado. Some harvest wheat, some raise meat or poultry, some specialize in dairy. All of them help support our rural communities and play an essential role in feeding families really all across the country.
“We don’t have to speculate about what Mr.Vought would do to the Office of Management and Budget – he’s really laid it all out in Project 2025. He wrote Project 2025 to a large extent himself.
“One of his finest contributions: a section championing the Executive Branch’s ability to overreach and “impound funds.”
“Let’s not mince words: This is, by all historic measures, blatantly unconstitutional.
“Congress alone has the authority to decide how the government spends its money.
“This isn’t an opinion. It says explicitly in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
“Made by law, designated by Congress.
“And again in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: “Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.”
“We got a taste of how Mr. Vought would attempt to execute something like this last week.
“In a truly chaotic late-night, two-page memo, the Trump administration halted all federal grants and loans. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in federal spending for a staggering number of programs. Programs that provide Americans health care, food, nutrition, housing, child care, so much else.
“The memo stemmed from an executive order calling on federal agencies to review and eliminate spending on “woke” ideologies or “The [Green New] Deal” – both things that aren’t clearly defined and don’t in any specific way exist.
“In this rush to create chaos and jumbled policy, the implementors didn’t bother to specify which programs would continue and which programs would end.
“Our office and staff were immediately flooded with calls. Hundreds and then thousands of calls. We heard from folks in every corner of Colorado – big cities, small towns – asking ‘what does this mean’ for them and their families. There was real fear, real worry, and for good reason.
“The Trump administration tried to walk back the original memo to clarify that the freeze wouldn’t affect individual payments, like Social Security or food stamp benefits.
“But that didn’t clear up too much. And it certainly didn’t help that the White House Press Secretary couldn’t answer specific questions like pertaining to specific government programs like Medicaid, whether they were going to be affected. Frustrating as it is – and I get how frustrating it is – there are reasons why government moves slowly.
“All of this, if implemented as requested, would’ve had a devastating impact on Colorado. A devastating impact.
“Federal programs and funds make up roughly 25 percent of our state’s effort to build transportation and infrastructure, provide needed services for the most needy in our state.
“Head Start, a truly vital service for over 9,000 low-income kids in Colorado, would be forced to shutter its operations that provide for these low-income kids of all communities with the early childhood education, health, and nutrition that they need. Even as we speak, there are reports that Head Start providers around the nation are not able to access funds.
“If implemented it would cut off 83,000+ low-income Colorado families from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps heat their homes in the cold winter. These are folks that in many cases are unable to pay their heating bills or wouldn’t be able to heat their homes without this assistance.
“Our public safety and law enforcement would be weakened. The pause would strip funding that helps our local agencies prevent terrorism, helps them crack down on drug trafficking, and prevent crimes and provide services for those who have been victimized by crime.
“Colorado has one of the largest veteran populations in the country, something we’re very proud of. But this funding [pause] would cut resources for those vets. It would cut resources for community-based suicide prevention efforts, organizations that provide care for veterans experiencing homelessness, and services for veterans living with disabilities – many of them taken in the defense of our nation. Hard to be cruel to those who have given their country so much.
“Before entering public service, I was in the restaurant business. At our brewpub in downtown Denver, we’d cook, pack, and donate meals every year to Meals on Wheels to feed seniors throughout the Metro Denver area. I’ve seen firsthand the difference this makes, the relief it provides to seniors who need it. Many of them don’t leave the house, and are so grateful to have someone come and they can talk to as they get their meal.
“But the federal funding freeze left Meals on Wheels in Colorado, but all across the country, unsure of how and whether they’ll be able to continue serving meals. Over 25,000 Coloradan seniors everyday rely on Meals on Wheels to access food. Why would we leave our seniors hungry and unsure of where their next hot lunch is going to come?
“Our office also heard directly from a Colorado rural health organization about how this federal funding freeze would have life-or-death effects on Coloradans in 47 rural counties.
“When we’re in towns like Cortez or Hugo or Julesburg, we hear all the time about how our rural hospitals, clinics, and community health centers are already strained by workforce shortages, by rising costs.
“These medical providers are on the frontlines of dealing with our nation’s mental health and opioid crisis. And we’re cutting their ability to provide these services.
“These folks in rural Colorado, and in suburbs around every city in Colorado, are watching their friends, family, and neighbors struggle with mental health issues that rose up after the pandemic.
“This funding freeze wouldn’t just strip funding from these programs. It would force our critical rural hospitals to lay off staff or turn away patients at a time when they need it the most.
“We should be fighting to increase access to quality, affordable health care no matter where people live – not take it away.
“The federal funding freeze has already been blocked by the courts several times because it is blatantly illegal. It makes no sense.
“But make no mistake, Mr. Vought and the Trump administration will keep poking and prodding our courts and our Constitution until they get their way.
“All of these actions serve a sinister purpose: to completely transform our government into one that gives enormous, enormous tax cuts, largely directed at those who don’t need them – and in many cases in Colorado don’t want them – and puts working-class Americans out to pasture.
“The federal funding freeze is just one of many chaotic actions that Mr.Vought and the administration are pushing. We see Project 2025 come into clarity in this administration’s illegal attempts to dismantle agencies without congressional approval, or their attempts to access Americans’ sensitive data.
“Look, I’m all for cutting government waste. If you want to seriously look at how we spend money and where we can cut actual fraud, waste, and abuse – I’m game. A more efficient government will help us all, but that’s not what’s happening.
“I’ve worked as hard as I could to find ways to work across the aisle, and that’s not going to change. When I was Mayor of Denver, when I was Governor of Colorado, we balanced the budget every year and we worked hard to try and streamline government processes. Just like every mayor and every governor in this country.
“You can’t just shove working families under the bus or violate the law to do it.
“We’ll fight these attempts in the courts, on the floor of the Senate – like now – and everywhere else we can to defend Colorado and the Constitution.
“It’s time to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt what Mr. Vought and his Project [2025] are trying to do. We’ve supported these lawsuits, opposed executive actions, and voted against nominees.
“But if we need to hold the Senate floor like we’re doing now, vote all night, disrupt business as usual, we’ll do that too.
“I will oppose every nominee that poses a genuine threat to Coloradans. That’s why I’m here on the floor and will vote “No” on Mr. Vought today.
“Coloradans sent us to Washington to solve problems, not to create more. Project 2025, it’s a brutal plan to wreak havoc on our nation, and really change the way our government operates, the way our democracy functions.
“I hope people all over the state emulate that old movie “Network”, that they can shout out on every corner, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to stand for it!”
“Let’s hope they get so loud that they can’t be drowned out.
“Mr. President, I yield back the floor.”
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