U.S. Sen. Banks tells fired HHS employee he seems ‘like a clown,’ says ‘I won’t apologize’

By FARAN FRONCZAK
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

A U.S. senator from Indiana had a message for a former Health and Human Services employee, among up to 10,000 to be fired or laid off.

Some of the laid-off employees were gathered in the basement of Senate chamber of the U.S. Capitol building when they encountered Sen. Jim Banks, a Republican, on his way to an elevator.

A former HHS employee, Mack Schroeder, shared a video of the encounter with News 8 after it became widely available. Schroeder on Tuesday night spoke with I-Team 8 about the encounter.

In the video, Schroeder said, “Hi, I was a worker at HHS. I was fired illegally on Feb. 14. There are many people who are not getting social service programs, especially people with disabilities. Are you going to do anything to stop what’s happening?”

Banks, now in the elevator, said, “You probably deserved it.”

Schroeder responded, “I deserved it?”

As the elevator doors closed, Banks replied, “You seem like a clown.”

Schroeder told News 8 that he was alarmed and found the senator’s answer off-putting. “I was just a bit taken aback. I don’t know him personally. I don’t know about his work as a senator. I feel like I didn’t approach him in an antagonistic way in any way. I was just asking him what he was going to do to support constituents in his state.”

Schroeder added, “It felt like a very childish attack, and it was a bit surprising because he didn’t have a response to what I was saying.”

Wednesday, Banks posted a video saying, “I won’t apologize for speaking the truth. I 100% support President Trump and DOGE’s mission to cut woke spending and government waste.”

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal Tuesday.

It’s important to note the courts have not made a ruling on the HHS employee firings.

News 8 reached out to Banks’ team for comment on the interaction, and received a statement:

“I went to Washington to decrease the size and scope of the federal government. No one is entitled to a taxpayer-funded job, especially in positions that waste those funds. I fully support President Trump and DOGE’s mission to eliminate waste.”

News 8’s Kyla Russell and Gregg Montgomery contributed to this story. This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/politics/us-senator-jim-banks-hhs-employees.