Columbia News

U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) recently appeared on Newsmax's National Report to discuss a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing he led, focusing on ending DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) discrimination across the United States.

Senator Schmitt stated: “For the past four years, our civil rights laws, which are meant to protect people from racial discrimination, were used to discriminate based on race. This obsession the Democrats and the Left has with DEI – which is divisive and discriminatory – found its way into every element of our society: higher education, government, and even the corporate boardrooms of America."

He highlighted Harmeet Dhillon's role as head of the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. "We wanted to highlight those abuses. We had Harmeet Dhillon there... She’s taking this on. She’s sued over 40 universities for their admissions policies and how they use race as a reason to admit people or not admit people," Schmitt noted.

The senator criticized what he sees as misplaced priorities during the Biden administration: “It’s a total misalignment of priorities that we saw over four years [of the Biden administration]. We weren’t building CHIP factories because the company that was going to build the facility hadn’t hired enough ex-convicts to meet their DEI requirements."

Schmitt also mentioned ongoing efforts by Republicans to counteract these initiatives: "The Trump administration has taken this on... No one ever voted for DEI. But yet, a lot of people have to sit through these DEI struggle sessions at work or be denied a job or advancement because of their race."

Discussing Democratic opposition, Schmitt remarked: “They’re in complete denial... The American people rejected the excesses that they saw the last four years from the Left." He added concerns about potential rebranding of DEI initiatives: "One of the things to be on the lookout for is just changing [DEI initiatives] to a different name."

The senator concluded with his commitment against DEI: "At the fundamental level, DEI is cultural Marxism... We have an administration that certainly supports that now.”