President Joe Biden’s “radical agenda is dead on arrival,” Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday night at the president’s first address to a joint session of Congress.
“Tonight, President Biden promised the nation higher taxes, crushing debt, and open borders,” the Arkansas Republican said. “His radical agenda is dead on arrival.”
Before the speech, Cotton told Fox News that Biden needed to explain to Americans that China is the “number one threat in our lifetimes.”
“One thing he could do is talk about how he’s going to fund our military,” said Cotton. “They are going to spend $6 trillion. You would think they would be able to find enough money to fund our military…if they are going to spend $6 trillion on liberal priorities, he would think they could find a few dollars to fully fund our military and make our deterrent against China credible.”
In his speech, Biden also warned Republicans that they needed to get on board with his $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan or watch China become “the most significant, consequential nation in the world.”
Cotton’s fellow Arkansas senator also spoke out Wednesday night after Biden’s speech, calling his infrastructure plan a “Democrat slush fund.”
“President Biden claimed to be a consensus builder, but beyond getting his party to agree to his far-left proposals, he’s done little to unite Congress behind policies that bring our country together,” Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said in a statement.
“The president rejected Republican ideas for bipartisan COVID-19 relief and the parade of partisan priorities continues with his progressive wish list masked as an infrastructure plan which spends more taxpayer dollars on electric vehicles than roads, bridges, runways and water systems,” said Boozman. “It’s clearly a Democrat slush fund that has little to do with actual infrastructure and is paid for on the backs of businesses through higher taxes on job creators.”
Boozman also slammed Biden for using executive orders rather than working across the aisle “to carry out a radical agenda that has halted immigration enforcement and led to a crisis on the southern border.”
Meanwhile, several other Republicans spoke out after Biden’s speech, voicing concerns about his spending and tax hike plans.
“I have serious concerns about piling on additional spending and raising taxes on individuals and businesses when many of the already appropriated funds have yet to be allocated and sent out by the Federal government. Federal government spending cannot be the answer to everything,” said Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Americans heard “a huge contrast between two visions” in Biden’s speech.
“Democrats are embracing tax and spend with government control,” he said in a statement. “Republicans, we’re doubling down. We’re the party of opportunity, believing that the best stimulus is a paycheck. And that the independence given by a job is better for our families and our country than dependence created by government programs.”
Cassidy said he wants the country to return to its pre-pandemic economy, and said that can be done by allowing employers and small business owners to create jobs.
“I thank President Biden for speaking to the American people and making clear what his vision is. I hope it’s not disrespectful that I disagree with [his] vision,” said Cassidy.
Sen. Cynthia Loomis, R-Wyo., accused Biden of having already started a “war on American energy” while spending nearly $2 trillion on progressive priorities.
“Tonight, even as his Administration tries to pass the Green New Deal under the guise of infrastructure, he came to Congress to roll out an education bill that would turn pre-kindergarten and community college into new entitlements our country can simply not afford. His proposed tax increases would do more to wreck our economy than to foot the bill,” said Loomis. “President Biden has chosen the partisan path of divisiveness and is wasting trillions more of our taxpayer dollars in the process. This does a sad disservice to the people of Wyoming, and our grandchildren will quite literally have to pay for it.”
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said in a statement that Biden “appears to be doubling down on a socialist agenda for more radical spending and tax increases that are a far cry from what we know will drive real results.”
She added that the president’s “lurch toward the Green New Deal, for example, will weaken our economic comeback, make us more dependent on China, and threaten the livelihoods of every American. This will hurt low-income families the most with high costs and lost jobs. We won’t win the future with his socialist agenda for more centralized planning and government control.”
Source: Newmax
