Oklahoma representatives respond to Pres. Biden’s address

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma’s Senators and Congressmen have responded after President Biden’s address to Congress Wednesday night.

Congressman Frank Lucas said “On one hand, businesses and families are feeling a sense of freedom and return to normalcy as their communities safely and responsibly lift COVID-19 restrictions- our economy is witnessing accelerating job growth and increased vaccine availability is helping support the return of opportunities for countless American workers and their families. But on the other hand, Americans, who were fed up with the “politics as usual” in Washington, D.C.- and elected a 50-50 Senate, a closely divided House, and a president who preached moderation- are now finding themselves on the burdensome end of a liberal agenda”

He continued by saying that Republicans are eager to work with Democrats on numerous issues but President Biden and Democrats “have abandoned the idea of bipartisan solutions.”

Rep. Lucas noted that President Biden called for unity but Rep. Markwayne Mullin said that hasn’t been the case from Biden.

“President Biden’s actions so far have been anything but unifying and unfortunately, we heard more of the same from him tonight,” Rep. Mullin said. “From out-of-control spending and endorsing Green New Deal policies to raising taxes and turning a blind eye to the border crisis, it is clear from his first 100 days that President Biden has handed the keys to the White House over to the far-left wing of his party and will continue to do so. This is the wrong direction for our country.”

Congressman Tom Cole attended President Biden’s address in person and said “it is always an honor to listen to any President speak to Congress in person.”

Despite that Cole said, “the proposal the president put before Congress and the American people tonight spends too much, taxes too much and is likely to undercut the current economic recovery that began in the third quarter of last year.”

He also notes that “Since taking office less than a hundred days ago, President Biden has proposed more than $10 trillion in federal spending – a $4.5 trillion annual budget, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, a $2.3 trillion infrastructure program and now a $1.9 trillion expansion of America’s social safety net.”

Rep. Cole continued saying President Biden has proposed the greatest increase in taxes in modern history and has overreached during his first weeks in office.

Senator Lankford, who did not attend the address in-person, said President Biden’s address painted a picture of what socialism looks like in America.

“His focus tonight was, every problem that we have, government is the solution. And we just need more government there to be able to do it. So, we need more government in our schools. We need more government in our health care. We need more government in our work place. We need more government on each item,” Sen. Lankford said. “In fact, he even said, ‘There are things that only government can do,’ which is true. Building highways and all that such, that has been a government project. I understand the infrastructure side. But he seemed to be just a focus on, if we just had more money and if we just have more government that we can do a lot more things.”