Utah Sen. John Curtis raised eyebrows on Sunday when he defended controversial Trump administration actions by comparing them to parents disciplining misbehaving children with a "stop the car" moment.
During an appearance on CBS's Face The Nation, Curtis was asked whether President Donald Trump has "unilateral authority" to cancel programs and funding approved by Congress.
"I believe this is how we test the Constitution," Curtis declared.
"People have said, oh, this is a constitutional crisis. I say, exactly the opposite. It's proving to work. We have the courts playing it. We have Congress who will play in," Curtis continued. "When Congress doesn't do their job, the White House has a tendency to try to solve it."
Curtis added Trump's challenge to constitutional limits – slashing government funding without congressional approval – actually reflects the will of his constituents.
"American people have asked for change. They've lost confidence in so many things. They want to see dramatic change that was a 'stop the car moment,'" Curtis said. "In many ways, the American people said, 'stop the car.' We want dramatic change. We're unhappy with what's happening at the border. We're unhappy with the economy. We're unhappy with so many things."
When pressed about tech billionaire Elon Musk's campaign to slash government spending and fire thousands of federal employees, Curtis sidestepped the question while offering a mild critique.
"If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it's like, please put a dose of compassion in this. These are real people. These are real lives. These are real mortgages," Curtis said.
On Friday, Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) emailed millions of government employees demanding that they list their work accomplishments from the last week or risk being fired.
Curtis defended the email from Musk, suggesting some federal employees working remotely may not be doing any work at all.
"Let's hope they're working from home. We don't know," Curtis said. "That's why the email. What are you doing? It's not unusual in a corporate setting to have people report and explain what they're doing, especially if they're working from home. So I don't think this is a request that is that difficult."
Several Trump-appointed agency heads told their employees to not respond to the email. On Monday, Musk admitted the email was just a test to see if they "had a pulse."
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