In his first speech on the Senate floor, Sen. John Curtis expressed concern Wednesday that Congress is ceding lawmaking authority to the White House and paid tribute to former Utah Rep. Mia Love, who died earlier this year.
The Utah Republican also addressed his four main policy priorities — energy, local communities, China and the debt. Curtis said he drew inspiration for his speech from trips he made to four landmarks in Utah and Washington — Ensign Peak, Arlington National Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“As I walked the halls, I was struck by how easily a human life can be devalued,” Curtis said of his trip to the Holocaust Museum. “I kept asking, ‘How? How did so many participate? How did others stand by? How did some serve to enable? How have so many already forgotten?’”
Curtis quoted Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, saying that Sacks “once identified both the problem and the solution when he warned, ‘When morality is outsourced to either the market or the state, society has no substance, only systems. And systems are not enough.’”
Though Curtis mentioned President Donald Trump by name just three times during his speech and avoided any direct criticism of the president, he said that Congress is “outsourcing more than just governance.”
“We are outsourcing responsibility,” he said. “Congress outsources lawmaking to the executive branch. Communities outsource compassion to agencies. Parents outsource teaching values to institutions. Citizens outsource critical thinking to curated social media feeds.”
During the first 100 days of Trump’s return to office, Congress passed six bills and Trump signed five into law, significantly fewer than any of his predecessors in recent decades. Meanwhile, the president has issued 152 executive orders to date, 143 within his first 100 days in office — a record-breaking number.
In a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Curtis raised similar concerns about the limited amount of legislation passed during his first weeks in the Senate, but said he did not blame Trump and that the problem was for Congress to fix.
“Having not been in the Senate with a new president, this is kind of a new experience for me,” Curtis said earlier this month, “but my aha moment was, ‘Holy cow, we have a lot of nominations, and the reconciliation [budget process] is taking a lot of time.’”
During his remarks Wednesday, Curtis said that in the early months of his time in the Senate, he has heard from Utahns that “citizens want President Trump to be successful.” Additionally, he said, they “want Congress to work” and called for an investment in clean energy, a restoration of local control to federally owned land in Utah and “measurable consequences” for China.
He then turned to the topic of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
“Democrats and Republicans in this body are not being honest with the American people when we pretend that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid don’t need reform,” he said. “And we are all equally dishonest when we weaponize fear — telling seniors that reform means abandonment. It doesn’t. It never has.”
He added, “We can have an honest conversation about these challenges now — or we can be the ones who have to deliver the devastating, draconian and harmful cuts that will inevitably come to our seniors if we don’t.”
Curtis did not offer reform proposals, though a spokesperson for his office said the senator will propose a legislative solution down the line.
During his speech, Curtis referenced his trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a visit he made because, he said, “I believe unity begins with understanding.”
“Like many Americans, I wasn’t raised with firsthand experience of the injustices faced by Black Americans, or Native Americans or others who’ve endured the heavy burden of prejudice,” he said. “I’ve come to understand that listening and learning are not one-time acts. They require humility, honesty and a lifetime of commitment.”
Curtis quoted remarks from Love, who was the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, and called for her inclusion in the Museum of African American History and Culture.
“She used her voice to lift and to call us to our better angels, and now Mia is one,” Curtis said. “At her funeral, her children read a final message she had written to the nation — words that deserve to be remembered. Mia wrote, ‘Some have forgotten the math of America — whenever you divide, you diminish. The goodness and compassion of the American people is a multiplier that simply cannot be measured.’”
Curtis concluded by urging his Senate colleagues to consider the “principles found in important locations and sacred sites.”
“Together,” he said, “we can pursue a vision for America that continues to be as bold and audacious as our beginning, while delivering dignity, freedom and opportunity for all.”
