Oklahoma Delegation Responds To President Biden’s Congressional Address

President Joe Biden delivered his first address to a joint Congressional session Wednesday night, speaking optimistically about the nation beginning to emerge from the pandemic and about the future of the U.S. government’s role.

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Some members of the Oklahoma delegation issued statements in response to the president’s address. Due to COVID-19 protocols, many of the Oklahoma delegation were not physically in attendance but attended virtually.

Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) issued the following statement:

“It wasn’t that long ago that Bill Clinton said the age of big government is over, but what Biden promised tonight is the largest expansion of government in our history,” said Rep. Hern. “In 100 days, the Biden Administration has managed to add $5.95 trillion in new spending, on top of the existing federal budget. This disregard for deficits alarms people across the political spectrum. Tonight, Biden did nothing to alleviate those concerns, and instead made the argument for even more unchecked spending. I’d like to see more effort from this White House to help the American people instead of patting themselves on the back for driving us into unimaginable debt.

“After 100 days of the Biden presidency, there’s no doubt that he is waging a war on prosperity. Nearly every executive order has resulted in the elimination of American jobs. Now that his speech is over, Biden and Harris are embarking on a tour of the country to sell their ‘American Jobs Plan’, which does little to help the millions of Americans whose jobs were signed away by Biden’s executive orders.”

“Much like his inaugural address, Biden’s speech tonight lacked substance. Anyone can stand up and commit to unity and bipartisanship, but it’s much harder – and requires much more integrity – to put those words into action. Biden has proven himself unreliable and unwilling to reach across the aisle to fulfill the most basic of his promises. To put an Oklahoma spin on it, Biden is all hat and no cattle. Unfortunately, it’s the American people who are suffering the consequences.”

Senator James Lankford issued a response through Facebook Live, saying in part,

“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. 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.”

You can watch Sen. Lankford’s full response here.