MADISON, Wis. — On twitter and in a jarring interview on Thursday, WI-03 Rep. Derrick Van Orden admitted he wants to cut federal funding to the Mayo Clinic health care system — a vital resource for many of his constituents — due to employee comments on the death of Charlie Kirk. One of the Mayo clinics in his district may already close due to Van Orden’s vote for the Big Ugly Bill. When pressed on whether he stood by this stance despite the potentially dire consequences, including increased patient deaths, Van Orden doubled down, saying: “By saying that I’m going to hurt them in the short term, it’s going to help us in the long term.”
Heartland Signal:Derrick Van Orden doubles down on defunding Mayo Clinic over employee’s social media post
By: Richard Eberwein | 9/22/25
Key Points Below:
- During an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show” last Thursday, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) reiterated his intent to defund Mayo Clinic and hospitals, mainly in response to one employee’s social media post.
- During the show, a caller asked Van Orden about his X posts calling for the removal of “every single penny of federal funding from the Mayo Clinic.” Van Orden made the posts in response to a human resources worker from Mayo Clinic making critical statements after Charlie Kirk’s death.
- Mayo Clinic receives substantial federal funding in the form of grants and contracts from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other government departments. This money helps fund cancer treatment, cardiovascular disease, aging and other health care research. The network has 28 health care facilities in Van Orden’s 3rd Congressional District in Wisconsin, including in La Crosse, Eau Claire, Holmen and Sparta alongside more rural areas.
- When asked if this funding should be removed because somebody at Mayo Clinic said something that he didn’t agree with, Van Orden got defensive and doubled down on his pledge to remove all federal funding from the Mayo Clinic and falsely claimed that the organization is “inciting violence.”
- When the constituent said he hasn’t seen the organization say anything disparaging about the Kirk assassination, Van Orden condescendingly told the caller to “open his aperture” and that “not all speech is protected.”
- Van Orden went on to tell the caller to Google his own examples of Mayo Clinic inciting violence, and that he is “not a research assistant buddy. I’m your congressman.”
- “So saying that we’re threatening federal funding that I am and I am saying we’re going to remove federal funding from anybody who hires these people who celebrate the assassination of American citizens, because it’s actually against the law. By saying that I’m going to hurt them in the short term, it’s going to help us in the long term,” Van Orden continued.
- After the Kirk shooting, Van Orden himself invited violence on his social media accounts and falsely accused Democrats and the media of being responsible for Kirk’s death.
- Before getting elected to Congress in 2022, Van Orden participated in President Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021. Although he claimed to have not entered the Capitol grounds, the Daily Beast later published photos of him in a restricted area. The congressman later supported Trump commuting the sentences of violent offenders who attacked police officers on Jan. 6. Trump went even further when he granted clemency to roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters, despite many of them having prior violent convictions.
