Senator Eric Schmitt

I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

Well, Charlie, well, first of all, like you, I'm a big supporter of President Trump. He is a unique political figure. He is doing things that have to be done that nobody else would do. So I'm a big supporter. I want to see him succeed. But the fact of the matter is the debate in the House, It was pretty absent of looking at the relevant figures.

Well, Charlie, well, first of all, like you, I'm a big supporter of President Trump. He is a unique political figure. He is doing things that have to be done that nobody else would do. So I'm a big supporter. I want to see him succeed. But the fact of the matter is the debate in the House, It was pretty absent of looking at the relevant figures.

They pretty well pulled $1.5 trillion out of the air. Sounds like a big number, but over 10 years, it's really not even a rounding error when you're spending more than $7 trillion a year. So again, I'm focusing on the facts and figures. That's kind of what I'm doing is forcing the debate in the Senate. I've always agreed with Senator Thune that we really needed to do this.

They pretty well pulled $1.5 trillion out of the air. Sounds like a big number, but over 10 years, it's really not even a rounding error when you're spending more than $7 trillion a year. So again, I'm focusing on the facts and figures. That's kind of what I'm doing is forcing the debate in the Senate. I've always agreed with Senator Thune that we really needed to do this.

What we had to do had to be done in a couple different steps. it wasn't all going to get done satisfactorily in one step. I think that's proven true. So again, it's not too late to acknowledge that fact, do the things that have to be done, border. Yes, we have to add defense to that, but we need to sharpen our pencils on both of those.

What we had to do had to be done in a couple different steps. it wasn't all going to get done satisfactorily in one step. I think that's proven true. So again, it's not too late to acknowledge that fact, do the things that have to be done, border. Yes, we have to add defense to that, but we need to sharpen our pencils on both of those.

Use the good work in the House to reduce spending to the extent we can, extend current tax law, take a massive automatic tax increase off the table, provide that certainty to the economy, increase the debt ceiling for about a year to keep the pressure on, leave all those other items for a second round using fiscal year 2026 budget reconciliation.

Use the good work in the House to reduce spending to the extent we can, extend current tax law, take a massive automatic tax increase off the table, provide that certainty to the economy, increase the debt ceiling for about a year to keep the pressure on, leave all those other items for a second round using fiscal year 2026 budget reconciliation.

That'll give us time to go through the budget line by line. 2,600 programs in the federal government, forensically audit those. Trump and Elon Musk showed us how to do it with Doge. We need to take that Doge effort and expand it. And again, just delve into the federal budget, into these programs, forensically audit them, expose them to the American public.

That'll give us time to go through the budget line by line. 2,600 programs in the federal government, forensically audit those. Trump and Elon Musk showed us how to do it with Doge. We need to take that Doge effort and expand it. And again, just delve into the federal budget, into these programs, forensically audit them, expose them to the American public.

And Charlie, I have to believe when you've gone from $4.4 trillion in 2019 to $7 trillion, there's literally hundreds of billions of dollars lurking in all of that spending that if you eliminate it, nobody would even notice it other than the grifters. who are sucking down that waste, fraud, and abuse. But you have to do the work. And that's going to take time. That's going to take a lot of effort.

And Charlie, I have to believe when you've gone from $4.4 trillion in 2019 to $7 trillion, there's literally hundreds of billions of dollars lurking in all of that spending that if you eliminate it, nobody would even notice it other than the grifters. who are sucking down that waste, fraud, and abuse. But you have to do the work. And that's going to take time. That's going to take a lot of effort.

And this big, beautiful bill has gone through the standard process. Exempt most programs. Look at a couple. Tweak them. Get a CBO score. Pick a number out of the air that doesn't meet the moment and say you've done a great job. I'm sorry. Appreciate the challenge that Speaker Johnson has. But you need to expose this. You need to sell to the American public to get them on your side.

And this big, beautiful bill has gone through the standard process. Exempt most programs. Look at a couple. Tweak them. Get a CBO score. Pick a number out of the air that doesn't meet the moment and say you've done a great job. I'm sorry. Appreciate the challenge that Speaker Johnson has. But you need to expose this. You need to sell to the American public to get them on your side.

And again, you got to do it in multiple steps. You can't do it all in one fell swoop.

And again, you got to do it in multiple steps. You can't do it all in one fell swoop.

Yeah, we have all kinds of crazy rules that are right. You can't touch Social Security. You can't touch discretionary spending through the reconciliations. It's only about mandatory. But again, remember, mandatory is way more than Social Security, Medicare, and even Medicaid.

Yeah, we have all kinds of crazy rules that are right. You can't touch Social Security. You can't touch discretionary spending through the reconciliations. It's only about mandatory. But again, remember, mandatory is way more than Social Security, Medicare, and even Medicaid.