Eric Schmitt

Senator Schmitt Calls on Trump Administration to Investigate Teachers Union’s Woke Investment Practices - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt calls on the Department of Labor to investigate whether the American Federation of Teachers has coordinated with ERISA-covered retirement plans to use plan assets for political or ideological objectives in violation of fiduciary duties.

U.S. SENATE — Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wrote to the Department of Labor (DOL) requesting that the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) initiate an investigation into whether the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) coordinated with any Employee Retirement Income Security Act(ERISA)-covered plans, fiduciaries, investment managers, or proxy-voting to use plan assets or shareholder rights for political or ideological environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-based objectives. “AFT operates through affiliated state and local unions that form constituent parts of the AFT national organization structure. AFT and its affiliates’ membership includes not only public-school teachers, but also private-sector healthcare workers, private higher-education employees, other non-governmental employees, and AFT’s own employees. “Accordingly, many dues-paying AFT members participate in ERISA-covered retirement or employee-benefit plans. So to the extent AFT-affiliated ERISA plans maintain invested assets, those responsible for managing the plans’ assets are subject to ERISA’s duties of prudence and loyalty. Federal law thus prohibits AFT-affiliated plan fiduciaries from violating those duties of loyalty and prudence by subordinating participants’ financial interests to collateral political, social, or ideological objectives. “Yet AFT leadership’s repeated claims that it will leverage plan assets for political purposes suggest it may be coordinating with plan fiduciaries to engage in precisely the type of political and ideological investment activities prohibited by ERISA’s duty of loyalty. For example, AFT’s President Randi Weingarten recently sent a letter to Target Corporation threatening to leverage members’ retirement-fund and benefit-plan holdings to pressure the company into adopting specific political stances. Additionally, members of AFT’s leadership also appear to serve as fiduciaries of ERISA-covered plans, raising concern that AFT leadership has the means to effectuate its stated desire for politicized investment activities. “This potential political weaponization of plan assets puts workers’ retirements and benefits funds at risk and distorts capital markets. And if AFT and plan managers coordinated to take investment activities based on politics and ideology rather than financial considerations, then they may have violated ERISA’s duties of prudence and loyalty. “A Department and EBSA investigation into whether plan managers violated their fiduciary duties to plan beneficiaries by engaging in impermissible political and ideological activism with plan funds is therefore necessary. “I thank both the Department and EBSA for continued engagement on this issue. In accordance with that prior work, I encourage the Department and EBSA to investigate whether plan fiduciaries have breached their duties by coordinating with AFT to subordinate plan beneficiaries’ financial well-being to unrelated political or ideological objectives in their shareholder and investment activities.” wrote Senator Schmitt.

ICYMI: Acting ICE Director Thanks Senator Schmitt for Championing $350M ICE Fund to Arrest, Deport Criminal Illegal Aliens in Sanctuary Cities - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt championed a $350 million fund within the Secure America Act to provide ICE with resources to arrest and deport criminal undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

The Secure America Act Included the Schmitt-Authored Provision to Give ICE Additional Resources to Protect American Communities U.S. SENATE —Following President Donald J. Trump’s signing of the Secure America Act, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director David J. Venturella thanked Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) for championing a $350 million fund in the bill that will help ICE agents arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens in sanctuary cities. Acting ICE Director Venturella released the following statement on the initiative and Sen. Schmitt's bold leadership: "The Secure America Act provides ICE with critical resources to strengthen immigration enforcement, enhance public safety and support our officers as they carry out the agency's mission. We appreciate Senator Schmitt's leadership in securing $350 million to help ICE address one of the most persistent challenges facing immigration enforcement and thank him for his commitment to ensuring our officers have the resources they need to protect American communities. "Sanctuary jurisdictions refuse to honor ICE detainers or coordinate safe transfers from local custody to federal custody. As a result, criminal illegal aliens who could have been transferred directly to ICE are instead released into our communities, forcing our officers to locate and arrest them in neighborhoods, businesses and other public locations. Taking custody of criminal illegal aliens in secure correctional environments is safer for everyone involved. It reduces the risk of flight, minimizes the potential for violence, and allows law enforcement to operate in a controlled setting rather than in an unpredictable public space. When jurisdictions refuse to cooperate, they force ICE to devote significant resources to tracking and locating criminal illegal aliens who were already in custody and could have been transferred safely and efficiently. "The funding from this legislation will help ICE increase its capacity to monitor releases and arrest removable criminal aliens when sanctuary jurisdictions refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. We look forward to using these resources to strengthen public safety, support our workforce, and advance the Secure America Act's broader goals." The Schmitt-authored Fund provides dedicated ICE resources for detainer management, release monitoring, custodial transfer, transportation, arrests, and detention connected to criminal aliens released from local custody. Senator Schmitt joined President Trump in the Oval Office for the signing of his provision and the Secure America Act. The Schmitt-authored Fund passed the Senate and the House as part of the reconciliation bill in early June.

Senator Schmitt to Introduce Constitutional Amendment Putting Americans First, Reining in Birthright Citizenship - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt opposes the Supreme Court's decision upholding birthright citizenship for children of undocumented and temporarily present immigrants, and proposes a constitutional amendment to limit birthright citizenship to children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

Schmitt’s Amendment Follows SCOTUS Decision Allowing Unlimited Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Aliens, Temporarily Present Aliens U.S. SENATE — Today U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee of the Constitution, announced he will be introducing a constitutional amendment to protect American citizenship and rein in birthright citizenship. This announcement follows today’s Supreme Court decision to uphold unlimited birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens and temporarily present aliens. “American citizenship is more than just paperwork and a bureaucratic label. It’s the covenantal bond between a nation and its people, and in a republic like ours that bond carries enormous weight. But under the Supreme Court’s erroneous interpretation, American citizenship is extended to anyone who happens to be on U.S. soil when they’re born–even if they were here in violation of our laws. This is a dramatic departure from the understanding of citizenship of our Founders and the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress and the American people have the power to restore integrity and meaning to citizenship by limiting it to those who owe allegiance and loyalty to our nation. Our generation’s existential threat is a hostile takeover through mass migration. We must honor the legacy of the patriots who built our country by doing our part to ensure we pass on an America we are proud of—and the first step is reclaiming control of who joins the political community that governs the United States and exercises the people’s sovereignty,” said Senator Schmitt. Schmitt’s constitutional amendment, among other things, would restore the scope of birthright citizenship to only the children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. Schmitt led an amicus brief in support of President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order defending the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Schmitt has led several hearings on the importance of protecting American citizenship. In March, Schmitt highlighted the threat of birth tourism, and recently his hearings examined denaturalizations and restoring pride in American citizenship.

Schmitt, Gillibrand Call on DoW to Provide Essential Autism Care for Military Families - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senators Schmitt and Gillibrand call on the Department of War to restore applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy as a basic TRICARE benefit for military families with autistic children and to implement recommendations from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report to streamline autism care access.

U.S. SENATE – Today, U.S. Senators Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on the Department of War to provide comprehensive applied behavior analysis (ABA) services to TRICARE-eligible beneficiaries diagnosed with autism. “Since 2021, military families have struggled to access critical care for their children with autism, and by removing ABA therapy as a basic medical benefit under TRICARE, DHA has put undue burdens on service families,” said Senator Schmitt. “Implementing the NASEM recommendations will help better serve our military families and ensure they have options for care for their children with autism. I’m thankful for the Trump administration’s efforts to ease burdens on families’ of Americans with disabilities and this is the next step to continue that mission.” “It is unacceptable that military families are being denied essential care for their autistic children,” said Senator Gillibrand. “By refusing to provide ABA therapy as a basic medical benefit, TRICARE is failing our service members and forcing overwhelmed families to navigate a frustrating bureaucratic maze just to secure limited life-changing care. The Defense Health Agency must dismantle these restrictive barriers immediately and permanently authorize full ABA therapy as a basic TRICARE benefit and adopt all of the NASEM recommendations to ensure autistic children of service members receive the full care they need.” This letter comes in response to recent NBC News reporting on a military family’s fight to secure coverage for their young son's essential autism care. It also follows a newly completed independent analysis by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), requested by Senator Gillibrand, which evaluated the effectiveness of the Department of War’s Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration (ACD) and submitted its findings and recommendations to Congress and the department. Based on its analysis, NASEM made four core recommendations to ensure military families receive high-quality care. Specifically, NASEM called for an immediate end to redundant, mandatory testing and parenting stress assessments that place an unjustified administrative burden on families and providers. The report highlights the need to streamline the healthcare process by granting clinicians the flexibility to choose appropriate assessment tools and making care navigation services entirely optional. Finally, the recommendations insist that the Defense Health Agency (DHA) update its coverage policies to align with standard industry guidelines, which includes approving all standard billing codes for ABA services and allowing clinically necessary ABA therapy to be delivered in schools and community settings. The senators conclude their letter by urging Department leaders to swiftly implement NASEM’s recommendations, noting that it has been more than nine months since the changes were proposed. They write: “We urge that the department take immediate action to adopt all these recommendations, especially the recommendation to make ABA a Basic benefit under the TRICARE program. In addition to the recommendations of NASEM, 12 years of a demonstration should be sufficient to determine the effectiveness of a medical treatment. […] Our military families, especially those with autistic children or children with other developmental disabilities, are entitled to receive the best possible care.” Senator Schmitt’s push for these reforms reflects a growing consensus among advocates and medical professionals that the current TRICARE system is failing its most vulnerable dependents. By transforming autism care from a temporary demonstration into a basic benefit and cutting through unnecessary red tape, the DHA has a critical opportunity to honor its commitment to those who serve. Moving forward, Senator Schmitt will continue to monitor the DHA’s response and advocate for the healthcare protections and peace of mind that military families rightfully deserve. The full letter can be read HERE.

President Trump Signs Schmitt-Authored Fund to Arrest & Deport Criminal Illegal Aliens into Law - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt authored and secured funding for ICE to arrest and deport criminal aliens released by sanctuary cities, framing this as necessary to address public safety threats from criminal illegal aliens.

The Secure America Act Includes Schmitt-Authored Provision Funding ICE and Protecting American Communities U.S. SENATE — Today, President Trump signed the Secure America Act into law, which includes a provision authored by U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) to provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with an additional $350 million for dedicated resources to arrest criminal aliens who are released from local custody after sanctuary cities refuse to honor ICE detainers, provide release notice, or coordinate safe jail-to-ICE transfers. Senator Schmitt joined the President at the White House for the signing. Watch a clip HERE. “For too long, drug cartels and criminal illegal aliens terrorized American neighborhoods in what was one of the greatest public-safety failures in our nation’s history. Against all common sense, sanctuary cities released criminals from jailhouses and let them walk right back into our communities to repeatedly commit crimes that put American citizens at risk. In fact, Democrats released more than 18,000 criminal aliens in 2025 alone, creating countless opportunities for the horrifying tragedies like the murders of innocent Americans like Sheridan Gorman and Laken Riley. Democrats may refuse to keep Americans safe, but now ICE has the resources they need to do their job, arresting and deporting illegal aliens,” said Senator Schmitt. The Schmitt-authored Fund provides dedicated ICE resources for detainer management, release monitoring, custodial transfer, transportation, arrests, and detention connected to criminal aliens released from local custody. The Senate passed Senator Schmitt’s provision as part of last week’s reconciliation package; the House of Representatives passed the package last night.

Schmitt-Authored Fund to Arrest, Deport Criminal Illegal Aliens Passes U.S. Senate - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt supports increased federal funding for ICE to arrest and deport criminal undocumented immigrants released by sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to honor ICE detainers.

$350 Million Fund Provides ICE the Resources Needed to Arrest Illegal Aliens Released from Local Custody in Sanctuary Cities U.S. SENATE — Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) released the following statement after the Senate passed his provision to give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) an additional $350 million for dedicated resources to arrest criminal illegal aliens who are released from local custody after sanctuary cities refuse to honor ICE detainers, provide release notice, or coordinate safe jail-to-ICE transfers. Schmitt’s provision passed as part of the Senate reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Customs Border Patrol (CBP). “Sanctuary cities created one of the most indefensible public-safety failures in America. These are criminal illegal aliens already sitting in jail. ICE has already identified them. Federal officers are ready to take custody. And sanctuary politicians let them walk out the door and back into American neighborhoods. That madness ends now. Senate Republicans just passed my provision to give ICE the resources to meet these criminals at the jailhouse door and take them into federal custody the moment sanctuary jurisdictions release them. In 2025 alone, sanctuary cities and states released nearly 18,000 aliens from custody instead of transferring them to ICE. That is a betrayal of every American family forced to live with the consequences. This is about commonsense immigration enforcement in our country. It targets illegal aliens, already in custody, identified by ICE, released because the Left would rather protect sanctuary politics than American citizens. If sanctuary cities will not protect their people, ICE will have the resources to do the job. This is a major victory for public safety, border security, and the rule of law,” said Senator Schmitt. The Schmitt-authored Fundprovides dedicated ICE resources for detainer management, release monitoring, custodial transfer, transportation, arrests, and detention connected to criminal aliens released from local custody.

Senator Schmitt Chairs Hearing on Denaturalization: “American Citizenship is Sacred” - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt advocates for expanding denaturalization authority through his SCAM Act to revoke citizenship from individuals who obtained it through fraud, concealment of criminal conduct, or ties to terrorist organizations, arguing that denaturalization is necessary to protect the integrity of American citizenship.

Schmitt Calls for Passage of His SCAM Act to Denaturalize Fraudsters, Terrorists, Gangsters WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, held a hearing titled Protecting American Citizenship III: Denaturalization and its Constitutional Limits. Schmitt highlighted our nation’s legal immigration problems and argued why denaturalization is a critical safeguard to protect the sanctity of American citizenship. Schmitt previously introduced the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act to restore integrity to the naturalization process by expanding and clarifying grounds to revoke the citizenship of certain individuals who demonstrate through their involvement with fraud, espionage, or terrorist organizations that they never met the statutory requirements for citizenship. Watch the Senator’s opening remarks HERE. “American Citizenship is sacred. It is the highest civic honor this country can give. It carries rights, duties, allegiance, memory, inheritance, and obligation. It means joining the American people and accepting responsibility for the future of the nation. But for too long, Washington treated naturalization like paperwork. Check the boxes. Say the words. Get the passport. Collect the welfare check or federal tax credit. Move on. That approach desecrates American citizenship. It insults every immigrant who came here honestly, followed the law, learned our history, embraced our Constitution, and took the oath in good faith. The Constitution gives Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. Congress used that power to require more than residency and forms. Instead, applicants must show good moral character. They must be attached to the principles of the Constitution. They must be well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. When someone lies during that process, conceals material facts, hides criminal conduct, masks allegiance to a foreign enemy, or swears loyalty with mental reservation, he commits fraud against the United States and the American people. Fraud has desecrated American citizenship. But that desecration did not happen overnight. It built up over decades of lax enforcement, cheapened standards, and political cowardice. Re-consecrating citizenship requires a remedy strong enough to remove those who abused it: Denaturalization. Denaturalization cancels citizenship that should never have been granted. It enforces the conditions Congress placed on naturalization. It protects the American people from those who abused our generosity and turned the oath into a scam. The Supreme Court has made the rule clear: no alien has the slightest right to naturalization unless every statutory requirement is met. Citizenship obtained by fraud is stolen status. Stolen status should be revoked…” In Senator Schmitt’s line of questioning, he highlighted the cases of Mirsad Ramic and Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, two naturalized citizens who were convicted of terrorism offenses related to ISIS. After being released from his ISIS-related sentence in federal prison, Jalloh went on to kill Lt. Col. Brandon Shah in a terrorist attack on an ROTC classroom. Schmitt asked the witnesses about the federal government's ability under to current law to denaturalize people who have proven through actions like these horrific crimes that they never met the requirements for naturalization and American citizenship in the first place. Schmitt’s SCAM Act would give the Trump Administration the ability to denaturalize and deport individuals who are involved with terrorist organizations. Watch the Senator’s line of questioning HERE.

Senator Schmitt: Congress Has a Responsibility to Protect College Sports  - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt advocates for federal intervention through the Protect College Sports Act to establish governance structures and revenue-sharing mechanisms that preserve college athletics, particularly to maintain funding for women's and Olympic sports programs.

Highlights Congress’ Role in Implementing Key Reforms to Preserve a Uniquely American Institution WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on the Protect College Sports Act, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) discussed Congress’ role in preserving and strengthening the integrity of college athletics amid the chaos and instability of the current college sports system. Watch the Senator’s opening remarks HERE. “There [are] so many great lessons to be learned in life through college athletics, and I truly believe we are on the precipice of that going away… you certainly won’t have 500,000 student-athletes being able to learn those lessons every year. It’ll be something very different, very different than what we’ve grown accustomed to. I think college sports—college football in particular—is such a uniquely American institution and it really is worth fighting for. It’s worth preserving, but it’s not going to happen by itself anymore…” said Senator Schmitt. “People have asked me, ‘Why is Congress getting involved in this? And it’s a legitimate question… Why in the world would the federal government have anything to do with college sports? Well the truth is Congress is the only entity on the planet that can provide the anti-trust exemption status to empower a governing body to set the rules, and to enforce the rules… No one else can do it. It is up to us… “The way I view this thing is there's two buckets: you have the governance issue, and you have the revenue issue. The governance issue is granting that authority, to have the rules to protect the student-athletes, for there to be enforcement. On the revenue side, look, the business model of college sports forever has been—basically—you make money on your football program, and it subsidizes all the other non-revenue sports, the women's sports, the Olympic sports. We will lose out if this thing continues down the path. We will not have the same level of athletes competing in the Olympics.” Schmitt is an original cosponsor of the Protect College Sports Act. The bill includes Schmitt’s framework to allow conferences to pool media rights to generate new revenue and preserve opportunities for women’s and Olympic athletics programs.

Senator Schmitt Defends First Amendment Rights of UCLA Law Students - Senator Schmitt

What’s wrong with College Sports? Tell me here. Schmitt Calls Out UCLA Administration for Violating Conservative Students’ First Amendment Rights U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, sent a letter to UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk and UCLA Dean Michael Waterstone demanding answers following recent violations of students’ First Amendment and civil rights following the disruption of a student event hosted by the Federalist Society. On April 21, the UCLA Law student chapter of the Federalist Society faced repeated disruptions from left-wing students while hosting a campus event. Although the disruptions violated multiple UCLA student-conduct policies, UCLA Law failed to discipline the students responsible, instead threatening Federalist Society students with disciplinary action if they released information about the disruptive student-activists. “Rather than remedy that First Amendment violation and punish the students who violated school policy to disrupt their fellow classmates’ event, UCLA Law instead compounded its First Amendment violation when Assistant Dean Bayrex Martí sent a threatening email to the Federalist Society students. That email to the Federalist Society students threatened them with “campus [disciplinary] process” if they released the names of the student-activists who disrupted the event.3 That email further violated the Federalist Society students’ First Amendment rights because it was an attempt to impose a prior restraint on them through a viewpoint-discriminatory threat of retaliation if they engaged in constitutionally protected speech,” wrote Senator Schmitt. In the letter, Senator Schmitt requested responses to the following questions: 1. In a statement after the April 21 event, UCLA Law “is reviewing all policies and will take necessary steps to ensure student groups can host speakers in an environment of civil engagement.” a. What is the nature of this “review”? b. What “necessary steps” will UCLA Law take to ensure that student groups can exercise their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association? 2. UCLA Law sent a follow-up email suggesting it could punish students for publishing the names of the disrupting students. Does UCLA Law continue to assert it can punish students for the protected speech of releasing the names of the disrupting students? 3. Will UCLA Law investigate whether Assistant Dean Martí or other administrators have engaged in other violations of the First Amendment, such as viewpoint discrimination? Read Senator Schmitt’s full letter HERE. [1] Letter from Jessie Appleby, Program Counsel, Campus Rights Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, to Michael Waterstone, Dean of UCLA School of Law (April 27, 2026) (FIRE Letter), www.fire.org/research-learn/fire-letter-university-california-los-angeles-school-law-april-27-2026.

Following Schmitt’s Request, DOJ Commits to Ending All Districts Drawn Based on Race - Senator Schmitt

Position: Senator Schmitt calls on the Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive review of all congressional districts drawn under prior interpretations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and to enforce the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais ruling nationwide, arguing that Section 2 should be applied as an anti-discrimination law rather than as a mandate for race-based districting.

What’s wrong with College Sports? Tell me here. Schmitt Sent a Letter Calling for Nationwide Enforcement of Louisiana v. Callais Ruling U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon calling for both a full review of all pending redistricting litigation and an examination of all districts created due to prior misinterpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais. After sending the letter, Assistant Attorney General Dhillon confirmed the Department of Justice (DOJ) will conduct a full review of all potentially racially gerrymandered districts drawn under prior misinterpretations of Section 2 of the VRA prior to Callais. “The Department should not wait for private litigants to identify every race-based district one by one. The Civil Rights Division has participated in, monitored, or influenced redistricting litigation for years. It should therefore identify the universe of districts created, preserved, or defended under the old Section 2 regime and determine whether they survive Callais. “The Department should act swiftly with urgency: issue guidance implementing Callais, review every pending and prior, yet still in effect, Section 2 redistricting matter, and use its authority to stop the VRA from continuing to be used as a pretext for continued unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. I look forward to working with you to ensure the Civil Rights Division enforces Section 2 as an anti-discrimination law—not as a racial districting mandate,” wrote Senator Schmitt. Read Senator Schmitt’s letter HERE.