Op-Ed: Congressman Fulcher Responds to Biden’s State of the Union Address

The following Op-Ed was sent out by Congressman Russ Fulcher. Note: Op-Eds sent out by elected officials do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.

State of the union speeches often make history.  Joe Biden’s speech on March 1 re-wrote it.

As a member of Congress, constituents contact me every day about major concerns including escalating gas and grocery prices, increasing crime in our cities, and threats facing America due to the open border policy.

Advertisement

President Biden said what everyone wanted to hear during his speech: He was going to lower prices, increase police funding, and secure our border. Really? Well Mr. President – I don’t believe you… because your actions speak louder than your words.

When President Biden cut off American energy production and became one of Russia’s biggest customer for oil, that didn’t help our gas prices.  When he mandated vaccines and pumped trillions of artificial dollars into the money supply, that didn’t reduce our grocery prices.  When he applauded the movement of the progressive left to “defund the police” it didn’t help our crime levels.  And when he refused to enforce our immigration laws he opened the floodgate to illicit drug flow, sex trafficking, and greatly compromised our homeland security.

The 2022 SOTU speech was a classic case of political theater.

Advertisement

Tragically missed, was the opportunity to “reset” what has turned out to be the President’s most obviously egregious policies. He could have claimed the world situation has changed, and it is time to restart American production of “clean” fossil fuels so as to eliminate the need to purchase “dirty” fuel from Russia and other adversaries.  The President could have stated that although he believes in liberal immigration practices, the level of illicit fentanyl imports and human trafficking dictates the need to re-start enforcement of federal immigration law. He could have said that although policing can always be improved long-term, the safety of our citizens and businesses necessitate that we re-dedicate ourselves to properly funding law enforcement. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

However, it was nice to see that “the science” dictated it was OK to eliminate the mask mandate on the House floor (for the 1^st time in over a year) on the same day as the SOTU.  It was also encouraging that the President wants to cure cancer, lower costs, not wages; and he wants us all to “buy American” (except for oil). Hopefully some solutions to those issues will follow…

Of concern was the President’s desire to crack down on 2^nd amendment rights, and his goals to make many things “free” or have a reduced cost (in other words, taxpayer funded): Community college, childcare, prescriptions drugs, tech company subsidies, assisted living, and anything COVID – related (worldwide).  But history tells us that if we think things are expensive now, just wait until they are “free”.

If you sense some skepticism in my remarks, it’s because there are.  I have been in office every day this President has, and I try to work with his administration every day.  As a result, I am directly familiar with administration policies seemingly void of any common sense.

Our current leadership is more concerned with control than serving Americans.

Speeches like this SOTU make me re-dedicate myself to changing the direction of this government, and that starts with a congressional leadership change this November. I believe we can make that happen…

… and so does the current leadership.  As of this writing 31 of my democrat House colleagues have already said they are retiring instead of trying for another term. Barring major federal changes in election laws, a leadership turnover is coming; and for the sake of our constitutional republic, it needs to.

###