The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Exposing Biden Administration's DEI Agenda

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

The Biden administration's embrace of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives represents an effort to “create equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity,” Tarren Bragdon says.  Bragdon, president and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability, says the current administration has taken actions to “use the power of the federal government to force certain political goals that really judge people based on the color of their skin, or maybe even their gender identity.” Bragdon joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss how the Foundation for Government Accountability is working to expose questionable policies within the Biden administration.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, July 11th. I'm Virginia Allen. The government is promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, also known as DEI. The president and chief executive officer of the Foundation for Government Accountability, Taryn Braggden, says that the Biden administration is seeking to create a quality of outcomes rather than a quality of opportunity. According to Terran, the current administration has taken actions within the government to use the power of the federal government to force certain political goals that really judge people on the color of their skin and maybe even their gender identity. Terran is joining us on the show today to explain how the foundation for government accountability is working to expose what is happening within the Biden administration.

Stay tuned for our conversation. But first, I want to tell you all about another excellent podcast that comes right here from the Heritage Foundation. Whether it's high prices at the pump or power grid problems causing outages, energy and environment policy impacts you, your community, and our country. And we're breaking down the how and the why on the power hour. It's a show on the Heritage Foundation podcast network. Host Jack Spencer and Travis Fisher bring in top experts to tell you what you need to know, from gas prices to gas stoves and everything else in between. And what the decisions that our leaders make mean for all of us.

Find the show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts, or you can just search for the show at heritage.org slash podcasts. It is my pleasure today to be joined by the president and chief executive office. of the Foundation for Government Accountability. Tarynne Bragdon. Taryn, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me. So can you explain a little bit about what you all do at the Foundation for Government Accountability?

What is your mission? So our mission is to work with state and federal policymakers to get conservative reforms passed into law. And so we have about 50 staff. We write legislation. We testify. We do research. And then work directly with policymakers to help shepherd it through the problem. process. Okay, so it's very hands-on. Very much so. But our primary audience is those policymakers

rather than activists or students or members of the general public. Sure, sure. So I want to talk a a little bit about some of the recent actions of the Biden administration and how you all are weighing in on that. You recently wrote in the Washington Examiner about an executive order that Biden signed in February. You wrote that that order commands virtually all major federal agencies to create new permanent units tasked with ensuring equitable outcomes regarding race, gender, gender identity, and even environmental justice in all facets of federal government business. Break this down. What's going on here? Well, I'm sure people are familiar with the acronym DEI. And really, what it's about is trying to force the left's definition of diversity, which is really all

about trying to create equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity. We believe that, you know, part of the beauty of living in America is people have equal opportunity to pursue the American dream, to work hard to get ahead. But what the Biden administration wants to do is instead use the power of the federal government to force certain political goals that really judge people based on the color of their skin or maybe even, you know, their gender identity. And what the executive order is trying to do is create the permanent capacity within federal agencies to do this. So it's not like this is a presidential appointee that a future Republican president could get rid of. It's, this is a permanent

capacity within the federal government using federal money, federal power, federal employees to achieve those political goals. And who pays for that expansion? I mean, if we're creating new that's more money. Well, it's you and me ultimately, or, you know, our children and grandchildren with deficit spending. And that's really, you know, the left is propped up by government spending. They use our own money against us, if we, if you will. And so it's reallocating money that's already been appropriated for federal staff, but for this really partisan political purpose. Wow. Okay, so the Biden administration is pushing this forward. Is anyone pushing back trying to stop it? Well, what we're trying to is first to get a better sense of what they're doing,

because this is a whole pattern of behavior. Early on in the Biden administration, March 2021, he had an executive order that looked at how do you use the power of the federal government to increase voter registration and voter participation? And so we had a public records request that they ultimately ignored. We sued them getting information on what exactly were they doing,

and we're going through the same process on this latest Biden executive order on forcing essentially racial outcomes or defining success based on race rather than on opportunity. It's the polling back the curtain to actually see what's going on. Exactly. When you mention your work with elections, with voting, I know that you all do a lot of work around that issue of election integrity. Talk a little bit about that and how you all are really working to kind of restore

both that trust, but then also to bring some accountability. Well, I think the key with election reform is everyone wants to know that they can vote easily, but at the same time, vote securely and that their vote is going to be quickly counted and get those results on election day. And so we do a lot of work at the state level of how do you actually have a secure election process that allows great participation that all of us want, and how do you get the results quickly? So I live in Florida.

We have early voting. We have vote by mail. have same day voting. But we know the results of those elections on election nine. Yeah. And so imagine that. Right. And it's a transparent process. So if I request my ballot by mail, I can track it every step along the way. And I even know when the elections office has received it back after I've voted by mail. So it's super transparent, quick counting. We want to take those same reforms to other states. And that's exactly what we've done in a bunch of states around the country. That's exciting. I want to take a couple of minutes.

and talk about some legislative action that you all have engaged in. Your organization recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the cost of prescription drugs. And you argue that the president is failing to implement a policy that would lower the cost of prescription drugs in America. What's this policy exactly? So this is the same kind of thing with the Biden administration, just using executive force, if you will, to either achieve a political goal that's they couldn't get through Congress. Or in this case, what the administration is doing is ignoring the law and not requiring hospitals to disclose price information on drugs that patients actually have a right under

federal law to get. And once we have this information, we then can be better shoppers as patients. And so the first step in creating more of a market force within health care and lowering costs for everyone is having transparent prices. The Biden administration has said, literally in an FAQ, we're going to ignore that law. You don't need to comply. And so we sued as potential recipients of this information. We could do analysis on it and help patients. We sued saying you can't ignore the law and give a hospital as a pass on that. That hurts patients. And where does that lawsuit stand? So we filed it. We're in Florida. So it's in Florida district court. We've been assigned a judge.

We're excited that it's a judge that was a Trump appointee, but it's just beginning in the process. You know, I think as we talk about, you know, the various issues that you all are engaging in, one that is so foundational when we talk about really creating an America that is flourishing, is that being able to empower people and empower people to live the American dream and move people off of dependence on the government to being able to provide for themselves, provide for their families. That's something that is near and dear to your heart and the heart of your organization. Talk a little bit about how you all are doing that, moving people off of welfare and creating that self-dependence. Well, we really believe that work is a miracle.

You know, people from around the world try to come to America to work and live the American dream. And what's happening is government is paying people not to work. We saw this at a supersized level during COVID, of people literally earning more money to stay home and not go to work. But it happens at all levels. It's not just with unemployment, but with food stamps, with Medicaid, with all sorts of government handouts. And so what we do is really three different things. One, we want to change public policy so you move people from welfare to work. And we're excited that Speaker McCarthy has embraced work requirements in a big way in Medicaid and food stamps is part of the debt ceiling.

But we also push that at the state level. Number two, we want to get government out of the way for people who are trying to get that better job. So you go from first job, if you will, to better job. So that's things like occupational licensing or unnecessary requirements or fees to work in a particular profession. So that's number two. And then number three is for people who want to create their own business,

how can we make it easier for them by cutting, red tape, reducing fees and regulations to allow people to do things like have a home-based business. Two-thirds of people who start a business, it's based out of the home. But a lot of times local governments restrict that, and that hurts in particular poor communities. And so we want to protect home-based businesses and make it easier for entrepreneurs. So it's everything from first job to next job to becoming a job creator. Really practical. Now, with everything that you all do, it is, I feel like that the backdrop of it all is that message of accountability, of bringing accountability back to the federal government. When you look at that mission, what are a few of kind of the key

ways that you feel like the American people can be a part of really bringing accountability back to the federal government? Well, I think one of the key ways that the American people can bring accountability to the federal government is to get involved in advocating for change at the federal level, but also getting change done at the state and local level. I think sometimes it's easy to kind of throw up your hands with what's happening in Washington, D.C., but the truth is that change starts in the states. That's where we actually perfect the solution before we federalize it, if you will. And so, and a lot of times, it's the American people that are beginning the parade that then elected officials, particularly at the federal level, jump in front of. We saw that with parents

when it comes to education in Virginia, for example. It was parents that led the way and then policymakers that followed. So there's a really big role for everyday Americans to lead that change, first in their community and then in their state and leading by example and getting involved in federal reforms as well. Yeah, that's huge. And I think, you know, when we hear that, it can feel a little overwhelming to think about bringing accountability.

So I love that starting locally. What can I do locally asking yourself? that question, how do I get involved in my own community to bring that accountability? Is it, is it, there are a timeline that we can talk about as far as, you know, how soon or how practical is it to say, okay, maybe within this certain time frame, we can restore some of that accountability? Well, this is where I'm actually more encouraged than I was a few years ago, particularly at the state level, I'm seeing conservative lawmakers able to, to get more done faster. And what's interesting is on the conservative side is it seems like the

policy agenda is becoming trendy, if you will, and nationalized quicker. So give you an example, in the school choice, or allowing parents to kind of pick the school of their choice to educate their child, not indoctrinate their child. For years, we'd have small victories in certain states. This year, we've had more victories for statewide school choice. than in all the years combined. That's exciting. And that's becoming, I think, a policy that's being seen on the conservative side is the must do, we're going to get it done.

And we need to do that with more policies. But I'm feeling a lot stronger momentum on our side for winning, particularly in the states. That's very encouraging. So for those that want to get involved with the foundation for government accountability, how can they do that? Well, you can take a look at some of our different solutions that includes model legislation at our website, thefGA.org. You can follow what's happening.

And then I also think, and I say this as a former elected official, you know, a great way to get involved is just to raise your hand and to run for office. That could be the local school board. It could be at the state level. Or maybe it's just directly engaging with your elected official to give them some ideas and to help those ideas shepherd them through the process. What's exciting about doing this work locally or at the state level is you can have a concept, go from idea to implementation in just a first. few months. And so you can really make the change that you want to have happen. And it's easier than you think. Taryn, thank you so much your time today. We really appreciate it and appreciate the work that you're doing. Thanks for the opportunity. And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode of

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