A recently fired Department of Health and Human Services employee asked Sen. Jim Banks if he would do anything to stop layoffs of HHS workers.
Banks responded that the former worker, who filmed and posted the encounter online, “probably deserved” to be fired because he “seems like a clown.”
In the video, former employee Mack Schroeder followed Banks down a hallway in the U.S. Capitol building. Schroeder said he was fired illegally on Feb. 14 and that he’s worried how that will impact Americans.
Hard truth! https://t.co/AGMASadq5b — Senator Jim Banks (@SenatorBanks) April 1, 2025
“There are many people who are not getting social service programs, especially people with disabilities,” he said, as Banks entered an elevator with staffers. “Are you going to do anything to stop what’s happening?”
“You probably deserved it,” Banks said.
Schroeder asked why he deserved to be fired. Banks replied as the elevator doors closed.
“Because you seem like a clown,” he said.
Banks doubled down in a statement his press secretary gave to WFIU/WTIU News.
“I have no sympathy for left-wing activists who have been let go from overpaid positions that should never have existed,” the statement read. “I do have sympathy for the hardworking Hoosiers whose tax dollars have been wasted on bankrolling these positions.”
Schroeder said his work at HHS involved social services for people with disabilities. Recent census data shows nearly 15 percent, or almost one million people, of Hoosiers have disabilities.
Read more: 'You're not listening to us': Hoosiers air frustrations as public officials face access scrutiny