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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, President Biden came to Congress on Thursday night to deliver the State of the Union Address. And, unfortunately, it was exactly what you might expect from the President: the same old tired tax-and- spend proposals, a far-left agenda, and a couple--or I should say--a complete failure to address some of the biggest challenges facing the country.

Let's step back in time for a minute to the beginning of the President's administration. Mr. President, 3 years ago this month, the President signed into law a massive and partisan $1.9 trillion spending bill under the guise of COVID relief, despite the fact that Congress had just passed a fifth--fifth--bipartisan COVID bill that met, essentially, all current pressing COVID needs.

Economists, including some left-leaning economists--warned at the time that the bill ran the risk of setting off inflation. But Democrats and the President proceeded anyway. And every American knows what resulted--an inflation crisis that saw inflation reach its highest level in more than 40 years. An inflation crisis that, 3 years later, still--still--isn't over.

But if you thought 3 years of inflation had taught President Biden to be wary of excessive government spending, you would be wrong. The President's State of the Union address was bursting with ideas for new spending--and new taxes to go along with them.

Yet the President had the audacity to claim that he is ``delivering real results in fiscally responsible ways.''

Well, when you have passed an unnecessary $1.9 trillion spending bill that plunged the country into an inflation crisis from which it has not still emerged, I would think you might be cautious about asserting any claims to fiscal responsibility.

But the President isn't overly troubled by the facts in these matters. He went on to assert that he has cut the Federal deficit by more than $1 trillion, a deceptive claim he has repeated so often that it earned him a ``Bottomless Pinocchio'' from the Washington Post's Fact Checker column.

As CNN put it in its State of the Union fact check, ``Biden's actions have clearly added to deficits.''

Mr. President, the President's address featured lots of new spending ideas and proposals for new taxes. What it didn't feature was solutions to the challenges that are actually facing the American people.

The President didn't get around to discussing the border and inflation--two of the biggest issues on the minds of Americans--until around halfway through his speech. And even then--even then--it was not to offer solutions; it was to dodge responsibility for these crises.

Despite the fact that the crisis at our southern border is a direct result of President Biden's policies, the President spent his entire discussion of the border suggesting that it is Congress's responsibility to act.

President Biden created this border crisis, and he has the power to end it. And he could start today.

For example, the President could crack down on abuse of the asylum system by tightening the standard for asylum claims, which could help weed out many of the specious claims that are being made that allow individuals to get years of, essentially, legal permanent residence.

But I don't think the President is really interested in securing the border. He is interested, however, in preventing the border crisis from hindering his reelection. So he is taking steps to put the blame anywhere but on himself.

As for inflation, well, the President has tried a variety of tactics for messaging on inflation, from minimizing the crisis to blaming it on others. In the State of the Union, he trotted out his latest blame- deflecting strategy, complaining about so-called shrinkflation. I hate to tell the President this, but a 10-percent shrinkage in the size of a Snickers bar is not the reason why Americans are paying $1,000 more a month these days to maintain the same standard of living they had when the President took office. Shrinkflation is not an explanation for the inflation crisis the President helped create. It is just one more attempt by the President to shift the blame.

There are a lot of other things I could say about the President's speech. I could talk about the President once again touting his Green New Deal policies, including his plan to install 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, even as our electric grid heads for disaster. I could talk about how disappointed I was that the President chose to resurrect the ugly moments early in his Presidency when he and his Democratic colleagues attempted to manufacture a nonexistent voter suppression crisis in order to justify legislation to give Democrats a permanent advantage in elections.

And, of course, I thought it was deeply sad that the President's definition of freedom seems to be mostly centered around abortion. The way the President made it sound in his speech, the core American freedom these days is the right to kill unborn Americans.

Well, there is a lot more to say, but I will stop here. Suffice it to say that if Americans were looking for solutions to the challenges facing our country, they did not hear them in the State of the Union.

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