Both of Utah’s Senators and two of the four Representatives issued press statements last night following President Biden’s speech. Here they are:
Congressman Blake Moore’s statement:
“I appreciated listening to President Biden’s vision for America, and I am grateful for his service to our nation. However, I have grave concerns about his agenda items that will adversely impact Utah’s First District and Americans across the country.
“Since my first day in office, I have looked forward to working with the Biden Administration and finding common ground on issues that both sides of the aisle prioritize, including immigration, infrastructure, and economic recovery. I sent President Biden a letter expressing my desire to put productivity over partisanship to deliver results for Utahns and Americans at large. But unfortunately President Biden has not exemplified the values or principles on which he ran. Despite his calls for unity and bipartisanship, his first 100 days in office have revealed one of the most partisan administrations in our history with 42 executive orders—the most since the Truman Administration—that push left-wing priorities without any input at all from Congress, American families, or other stakeholders. His executive order halting oil and gas leases has threatened the livelihoods of Utahns living in our rural communities, and his corporate and federal tax hikes will stunt our nation’s desperately needed economic growth, exacerbate our national debt crisis, and harm job prospects for the most vulnerable in our communities.
“I applaud and echo Senator Tim Scott’s outlook for America’s future. I am hopeful that we can unite and find bipartisan solutions to our country’s most pressing problems as we recover from the pandemic. Americans need us to work together now more than ever, and I am committed to doing my part to work across the aisle and advocate for the interests of northern Utah.”
Congressman Burgess Owens statement:
“Tonight, we heard President Biden’s spin on his first 100 days in office, but nothing of his job-killing executive orders, the national security crisis at our border, or the largest tax increase in a generation,” said Owens. “The Democrats’ progressive pet projects and disastrous policies come at the expense of hardworking taxpayers and future generations. To truly restore the soul of our nation, the President must stop governing from the far left and start representing all Americans.”
Senator Mike Lee’s statement:
Tonight, we heard from President Biden on his accomplishments in his first 100 days in office, and on his vision for our country going forward.
It’s been a telling 100 days and a telling evening – though not perhaps in the way that President Biden has presented them to Utahns.
While President Biden campaigned as a centrist and a moderate, he has governed as anything but.
Consider a few of his main “accomplishments” thus far.
In less than 6 months in office, he’s issued 40 executive orders, including: Halting new oil and gas leases on public lands. That’s a crippling blow to the countless Utahns who depend on those leases for their livelihoods. Canceling the Keystone Pipeline, with 1,000 jobs lost and 10,000 more that won’t be created. Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. Reimplementing a Catch-and-Release program, halting immigration enforcement, and ending the Remain in Mexico program and our asylum agreements with the northern triangle countries – creating huge surges of migrants and the now massive crisis on the border.
He’s passed a “COVID relief” bill spending $1.9 trillion – with only 9% going towards public health, and the rest going towards a partisan, progressive wish list. He’s unveiled a $2.3 trillion “infrastructure” package of the same ilk – with only 7% expected to go towards actual infrastructure. He’s unveiled his so-called “American Families Plan” – a massive $1.8 trillion spending proposal that will be financed primarily by tax increases.
In fact, in just the first 6 months of his presidency, he’s on track to spend a whopping $6 trillion dollars – a total larger than the amount we spent on World War II, when adjusted for inflation. On top of that, President Biden has signaled openness to nuking the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. He’s insultingly and falsely painted Georgia’s election integrity efforts as “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Rather than the “unity” he promised, President Biden has instead delivered extreme partisanship. He’s taken unprecedented action to fulfill a progressive, far-left agenda and to increase the size, scope, and cost of the federal government. Unfortunately, this agenda will only serve to make Utah and our country less prosperous, less fair, and less free. We have to remember that ultimately, government power is force, and expands at the expense of our liberty.
Hardworking Utahns everywhere deserve an agenda that offers real hope, unity, freedom, and opportunity. Thank you.
Senator Mitt Romney’s statement:
“It’s hard to live within a budget and much easier to spend money like there’s no tomorrow. Unfortunately, the President has a lot of things he’d like to do, but he’s spending like crazy. In his first 100 days, he has proposed six trillion dollars of new spending. That is a modern record. To put that in context, six trillion dollars is about four times our total federal budget. That is an amazing amount of money, and it has the potential of jeopardizing our kids’ future and burdening them with decades of interest costs.
“When you get down to the kinds of policies that unite the country, the President says he wants unity, but it’s impossible to unify America if you’re only appealing to the liberal wing of your own party. So let’s get back to the job of bipartisan governing. I hope he will do that, and we Republicans are ready to work with him.”
