PA senators follow party lines in reaction to Biden speech
President Joe Biden’s Wednesday address to mark his first 100 days in office was met with partisan responses from the state’s two U.S. senators.
“Over nearly 100 days, President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris have worked to get the COVID-19 public health emergency under control, pass historic rescue legislation to provide relief for working families and lay out a vision for what ‘building back better’ is all about,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, however, said Biden’s words at his inauguration – calling for national unity and stressing he would be a president for all Americans – have been hollow.
“The Biden White House has focused most of its energy on forcing through aspects of the left-wing wish list, either by executive order or partisan legislation, while stonewalling most Republican ideas and input,” the Lehigh Valley Republican said.
In his address, Biden declared that “America is rising anew,” calling for an expansion of federal programs to drive the economy past the coronavirus pandemic and broadly extend the social safety net on a scale not seen in decades.
“I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,” Biden said during the speech. “Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.”
Biden laid out an extensive proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas target frailties that were uncovered by the pandemic. He contended that economic growth will best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.
Casey said Congress has an obligation to pass the American Jobs Plan in order to rebuild infrastructure, invest in high-speed broadband and other home and community-based services. Congress must also pass the American Families Plan to provide economic security and opportunity to all working families, Casey said.
“It includes a priority that I have worked on since I began serving in the U.S. Senate – investments in early learning and universal Pre-K,” Casey said, adding that early learning investments are essential to giving children a strong, smart start to their lives. “When a child learns more earlier in life, they earn more later in our workforce.”
Casey said both plans would allow the country to build back better as the administration has laid a foundation of change that will transform the lives of families and children.
Toomey said Wednesday’s introduction of the American Families Plan will be paid for by massive tax increases, and is another example of the administration’s hyper-partisan approach that has been deployed since January.
“I do not expect to agree with President Biden on most policy issues,” Toomey said. “But there are areas we can work together, including rebuilding our roads and bridges, expanding firearm background checks and forging new free trade agreements.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who represents Washington, Greene and Fayette counties, along with portions of Westmoreland County, said, “Biden’s first 100 days in office have been the most tragic and disingenuous bait and switch ever carried out on the American people.
“Biden failed to live up to his promises and calls for unity and bipartisanship from day one, and he shows no signs of changing course. Biden prioritized pushing through his far-left, socialist agenda at the expense of American workers and families. His executive orders killed thousands of blue-collar jobs with his war on American energy, created the humanitarian and national security crisis at our southern border with his open border policies, and proposed tax hikes that will crush lower and middle class jobs.
“Despite historically thin margins in the House and a 50/50 Senate, Biden is pushing for an astonishing $6 trillion in new spending to implement radical policies and expand government control of our daily lives. I hope he reconsiders this reckless strategy and works across the aisle to advance commonsense policies that strengthen our country and help all Americans.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.