Over the past few years, the Biden administration has implemented divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and mandates across nearly the whole of the federal government . This has driven a wedge between the public and created a focus on our differences rather than similarities. But it has also completely undermined one of the United States’s foundational principles: the belief that all men and women are created equal and that each one of us, individually, has dignity and a right to pursue our dreams based on merit, not immutable characteristics such as race.

Sadly, the core tenets of DEI are found in myriad departments within the federal government, and those DEI tenets are being forced on the employees who work there. This is discriminatory, alienating, and inherently un-American, and I will not sit idly and watch this administration pit people against each other under the guise of “inclusion.”

DEI is nested in cultural Marxism, where every situation is seen as a struggle between the oppressor and oppressed and rests heavily on physical characteristics that you have no control over - race, sex, and more. This is the manifestation of identity politics in government, and under this poisonous ideology, you may very well be the oppressor who must submit to a modern-day “struggle session.” This philosophy undermines the American idea, and for cultural Marxists, that’s exactly the point.

Under Joe Biden’s DEI mandate for the federal government, there have been dozens of offices created with the express purpose of promoting and implementing DEI principles in our government. This includes taking into account race, ethnicity, or other physical characteristics when considering job applications and even employee promotions and forcing government employees to attend DEI trainings . Some offices force supervisors in the federal government to include pronouns in email signatures — and there is punishment if the wrong pronouns are used.

Take, for example, this report from the Wall Street Journal : “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided training orders  of about $313,000 for a slew of courses, such as ‘8 Tactics for Courageous Workplace Conversations About Race,’ ‘Let’s Talk About Systemic Racism, Unconscious Bias and Privilege,’ and ‘Silence is a Statement: Understanding Race in the Workplace.’”

That same Wall Street Journal report covers a 2021 Veterans Affairs training on “Managing Gender Diversity,” which had “sections on pronouns and embracing ‘gender-expansiveness.’ One slide listed terms including ‘gender fluid’ and ‘pansexual,’ while instructing: 'List your personal "biases" in the BIAS box.' A game of 'privilege bingo' included such items as 'no criminal record,' 'military experience,' and 'married.'"

This administration’s obsession with DEI is a massive stain on the credibility of the United States government. The value of an applicant or employee should be based entirely on their credentials and merit — not on what boxes they check.

To top it all off, these DEI offices have received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to instigate this social divide that would be much better used by hiring additional Border Patrol agents or strengthening our national security.

This deep cultural rot is exactly why I’m introducing the Abolish Government DEI Act - to stand in the way of this illogical racial bias that Joe Biden has forced upon our government. My Abolish Government DEI Act would institute a complete overhaul of the divisive DEI-based government regime mandated by this administration. From the Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific Workforce Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to the State Department’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, my bill would abolish dozens and dozens of prejudicial DEI-focused offices and prevent others from being established in the future.

This shouldn’t be controversial or a Republican versus Democrat issue — every person who cares about treating people equally regardless of their race or ethnicity should be on board. But unfortunately, there’s a large swath of folks, particularly within the highest levels of our government, who would rather give preference to someone’s appearance over their ability to get a job done. These folks routinely prioritize quotas over merit.

DEI policies and mandates are not only inherently biased, shortsighted, and prejudicial, but they ultimately weaken the United States and are antithetical to everything the Constitution stands for. Simply put, this legislation would liberate hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and unite our core principles with hiring practices.

DEI programs have become the very thing they claim to seek to destroy: an item of division and hate. We can no longer allow identity politics to dictate the motive of admission or hiring decisions. We need to elevate each other based upon merit and distinction, rather than by an agenda set forth by radical leftists.

DEI must be dismantled from top to bottom within our government, and that’s exactly what my Abolish Government DEI Act would do.

Eric Schmitt is a U.S. senator for Missouri.