Brian Schatz: “Last week, without any advanced notice, OMB issued a memo freezing all Federal funding in order to end wokeness…”

“Last week, without any advanced notice, OMB issued a memo freezing all Federal funding in order to end wokeness, ``Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.'' Like, I just want to--we can pause right here, right? This is not the kind of thing that the OMB is supposed to say, right? It is the Office of Management and Budget. They are not supposed to have an opinion about wokeness or not wokeness or anything like that. It is just a very odd way to view what is otherwise a kind of technocratic position, and that is what is very important about this particular OMB and this particular OMB Director. He does not view it as merely administering the budgets and the spending bills within the government. He views it as a power center through which all of his ideology and all of Project 2025 is going to be implemented. Like, to think of the Office of Management and Budget as a place to fight wokeness and Marxist equity--I don't even know what any of that means, but I think a lot of us know the previous OMB Director. She was really well-regarded by both sides of the aisle. I think the Presiding Officer actually knew her from Louisiana. And, you know, like, she was left of center, but she would never say anything other than what is sort of straight down the middle as it relates to the Office of Management and Budget. And that is--why would we take the floor for the OMB Director? Well, because he is the author of 2025.…”