During his 1996 State of the Union address to Congress, President Bill Clinton stated, “The era of big government is over.” More than two decades later, President Joe Biden’s address to Congress articulated the exact opposite sentiment.
His address painted a picture of a thriving America under higher taxes and overreaching government. This is simply not the case. Throwing trillions in taxpayer dollars at programs that only seek to increase the size and influence of the federal government is not going to help the public but only hurt it and future generations that will bear the cost.
Biden mentioned “jobs” in his speech more than 40 times. However, in his first 100 days, Biden has already destroyed thousands of jobs by stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. He mentioned the American Jobs Plan but failed to mention how only 6% of the funding will go to fixing America’s real infrastructure, such as our roads and bridges. He also called for passage of the PRO Act, a bill that destroys state right-to-work laws, stifles workers’ rights, and could cost employers billions of dollars in new annual costs.
In Congress, we should be working to increase worker freedoms and economic recovery, not mandate a one-size-fits-all approach.
In his speech, Biden also called for increasing corporate taxes. Once again, this will not benefit average people but will burden them instead. Rather than paying costs out of pocket, big companies pass along the additional costs to consumers. Families see these rising costs every day at the grocery store or gas pump. In the past year, the cost of gas has risen 159%.
What the Biden administration fails to realize is that these costs negatively affect the lower and middle class more than anyone else. Gas and groceries are not luxuries; these are necessities that people use every day to go to work and put food on the table. People cannot afford these extra costs, especially as our country attempts to recover from a pandemic. Even worse, the United States cannot afford for companies to move overseas, putting an end to countless jobs.
Former President Donald Trump strove to make America great without the constant interference of the federal government. In that time, unemployment rates in America dropped to record lows.
Beginning a new presidency by piecing together the red tape will only take our country in the wrong direction.
Although Biden campaigned on uniting America, that is clearly not his plan. Over the last 100 days, the president has brushed off bipartisanship, resulting in these hurtful policies. I will continue to push against the bloated spending bills supported by Democrats and the administration until we can work together to find solutions that will actually benefit families and not destroy jobs.
Rep. Joe Wilson represents South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
