Bilirakis Responds to President Biden’s State of the Union Address
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) provided the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address:
“In last night’s SOTU address, President Biden proved yet again to be painfully out-of-touch with the difficult realities the vast majority of Americans are facing because of the policies he and Congressional Democrats have enacted. While the President attempted to minimize the pain that my constituents and so many Americans are experiencing, no amount of carefully-crafted spin can deflect from the harsh truth. We are facing multiple crises as a result of two years of one-party rule in Washington and the American people deserve better,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis.
Economic Crisis Hurting Americans: Soaring inflation caused by reckless spending has made the cost of food, housing and basic necessities unaffordable. The labor participation rate is the lowest it’s been since Jimmy Carter’s Presidency while supply chain disruptions and labor shortages continue to plague small businesses. Record spikes in energy costs - as a result of the Administration’s war on domestic production- has made everyone feel unnecessary pain at the pump.
While we must rein in irresponsible spending and restore fiscal accountability, doing so cannot come on the backs of our seniors. Despite the false claims made by the President last night, it is actually Democrats who have approved spending that jeopardizes the long-term solvency of Medicare. I have always stood up for seniors and fought against proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security. And, despite whatever politically motivated scare tactics are used in an attempt to distort reality, my constituents can have confidence that I will always continue to protect seniors as we work to ensure the long-term solvency of these critical programs.
National Security Crisis Endangering Our Country: At a time when our global adversaries are emboldened and aggression toward our country is increasing, we are less safe than ever. Our southern border, streets, and our sovereign air space are NOT secure. There have been at least 4.5 million migrants illegally entering our country since President Biden took office. Record amounts of fentanyl originating from China and entering through the border are flooding our streets and killing our children while crime is rampant across the country. Our law enforcement community is also under constant attack from radical liberals. Most recently, China has launched a spy balloon that was allowed to drift for days across the heartland of our country collecting and transmitting data about Americans back to the CCP. State-sponsored cyberattacks against America’s critical infrastructure and American interests are also on the rise.
Government Overreach Limiting Our Freedoms: The Biden Administration has demonstrated a consistent and pervasive desire to control every aspect of Americans’ lives by continued infringement on the First Amendment, 2nd Amendment, and Medical Freedom. Americans’ privacy is constantly under attack by Big Tech platforms who have been colluding with the Administration to restrict Free Speech. Many Big Tech platforms have ties to adversarial governments and have demonstrated a willingness to exploit children without concern for the damage that use of social media platforms at a young age may cause.
Lack of Government Accountability Harming Americans: Despite a multitude of policy failures including: open borders, a reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan, record levels of irresponsible spending, pandemic policies that enabled fraud, waste and abuse- while hampering basic governmental operations, and a series of scandals that emboldened our enemies and caused Americans to have greater levels of distrust in their government – the Biden Administration has not had proper oversight, transparency and accountability for its actions.
“Americans deserve relief in the form of lower inflation and energy costs, safer communities, more freedom, and greater transparency. My colleagues and I will continue to pursue policies to deliver on these promises,” added Bilirakis.“Instead of continuing to try to push a radical agenda and deceive the American public with a false narrative that all is well, the President and my Congressional Democrat colleagues should focus on finding common ground to rectify these serious and persistent concerns.