Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Monday that the coronavirus pandemic opened his eyes to the extent of corruption across the federal government.

During Breitbart News’s Fight Club Roundtable with Editor-in-Chief Alexander Marlow and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, Johnson was asked about efforts to hold officials accountable for their actions during the pandemic.

“My eyes have been thrown wide open in terms of the capture and corruption of not just our federal health agencies,” Johnson said. “I would say every agency, every department of the federal government is captured by the very businesses and interests that they were designed to regulate.”

Johnson said the problem extends beyond former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and other federal health officials involved in the pandemic response.

“It’s not just what Fauci and the evildoers inside these federal agencies did. It’s across the board,” he said.

Johnson argued that as the federal government has grown, large businesses have learned to use regulations to their advantage and against smaller competitors.

“They realize, ‘Hey, this ain’t too bad. I can use government. I can use these regulations to my advantage if I’m big enough, if I’ve got enough money,’” Johnson said.

He said that arrangement hurts competitors, customers, and the American public.

Johnson also warned about the rapid growth of federal spending and debt. He said annual spending has risen from about $4.4 trillion before the pandemic to roughly $7.5 trillion, with the federal government now running deficits of more than $2 trillion.

“If you want to understand what the problem is, it is government, plain and simple,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he originally came to Washington to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government but became involved in oversight investigations after becoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“As government grows, our freedoms necessarily recede,” he said.