Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued the following statement after President Biden delivered a joint address to Congress this evening.
“President Biden campaigned on unifying a divided nation. Part of that means working with a Congress divided right down the middle. Thus far he’s done very little to back up his words from the campaign trail, and he’s stood by while others in his party use divisive rhetoric that only serves to further inflame discord in our nation.
“We didn’t hear enough about how President Biden plans to address the worst border crisis in recent memory. This is a crisis fomented by the White House’s policy pronouncements, and fixing the issue requires leadership that we have yet to see from this administration.
“Republicans in Congress are willing to work with the administration, but bipartisanship takes commitment from both sides. Cutting Republicans out of the process, like he did on the COVID package and may do on infrastructure, is no way to unite the country.
“My Republican colleagues have put forward a bold proposal that’s actually focused on infrastructure. The administration’s plan is unfocused, expensive and sounds more like a product of the Sanders campaign than the Biden White House. And the preoccupation with raising taxes is counterproductive.
“The pre-COVID economy was the best our country has seen in decades. We saw record-low unemployment across demographics, historic wage growth and a renewal of American manufacturing. All of that was possible because of the 2017 Republican tax bill and Trump administration policies. The quickest way to slow our post-pandemic economic recovery is to hike taxes.
“Even though Senate Democrats filibustered police reform last summer, the bipartisan appetite for change still exists today. The path forward, as on other policies, requires compromise. Here again, Republicans have a plan that includes policies supported by both sides.
“President Biden is only 100 days in, so there’s plenty of time for him to turn things around and make good on his campaign promise to unite the country. I’d still like to work with the president and his administration to lower prescription drug prices and further reform the criminal justice system. I know from his time in the Senate that he’s capable of being a bipartisan dealmaker. The question is will his left-wing base let him?”
