House Republican leader responds to Biden’s Congress address

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) has released a statement responding to President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress earlier on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the White House outlined the second piece of Biden’s $4 trillion+ economic recovery program, the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. The plan calls to extend tax credits for families, make higher education and child care more inexpensive and expand paid leave and free pre-K.

McCarthy credited Operation Warp Speed and Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for the ongoing recovery of the economy.

“The American economy, currently in an ongoing recovery thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the continuing success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is on the verge of an incredible comeback,” said the House Republican leader. “Think back to December 2019: wages were rising, businesses were growing, and unemployment was at its lowest level in half a century.”

The Operation Warp Speed was a public–private partnership initiated by the government to help and speed up the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. It was officially announced on May 15, 2020 by then-president, Donald Trump. In February this year, the partnership was transitioned to the White House COVID-19 Response Team under President Biden.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was also signed into law by the former president.

“We should be doing everything in our power to return to this economy and build on its successes,” said McCarthy. “Unfortunately, President Biden is using his presidency to implement the most radical socialist agenda in American history.”

He further added, “He plans to ‘Build Back Better’ by growing the government, raising taxes on American families and investments, destroying jobs, and saddling future generations with a massive debt – an agenda that will inevitably crush economic opportunity.

“In late February, he spent $1,900,000,000,000 on ‘COVID relief’ that spent less than 9 percent to defeat the virus. In March, he pushed for a $2,700,000,000,000 ‘American Jobs Act’ that spends less than 6 percent on repairing roads, highways, and bridges. Tonight, he demanded another $1,800,000,000,000 in new spending for cradle-to-grave government intervention.

“When you add it all up, the cost of the Biden Spending Spree is astonishing: over $6,000,000,000,000 in his first 100 days. That’s more than the cost of every activity of the whole government in a single year and 30 percent of the entire American economy. The price tag per household comes out to $46,321.17 – more than 70 percent of the median household income.”

Watch President Biden addressing a joint session of Congress for the first time.

You can read the remarks as prepared for delivery by President Biden here.