[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this evening, President Biden will 
begin the back half of his term with his State of the Union address to 
Congress and to the American people. But the White House's attempts to 
script the message for this week have been upset by recent events. Over 
the last several days, the country learned that on President Biden's 
watch, the state of our Union is apparently under Chinese surveillance 
from our own skies.
  It is ludicrous to suggest that Canada and the United States had no 
choice but to let this thing traipse across the continent from coast to 
coast. President Obama's own Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, says, 
``We should have acted earlier.''
  The administration's handwringing and indecision, finally downing the 
balloon only after it had toured the length of our country, was typical 
of how President Biden and his team have conducted our foreign affairs.
  Our top military commanders and civilian experts all say that our 
broader strategic competition with China is our most serious challenge. 
But this President's last budget request tried to cut funding for our 
military after inflation, while Beijing keeps investing in their own 
capabilities.
  The commander of our U.S. Strategic Command just told Congress that 
China now has more land-based intercontinental ballistic missile 
launchers than we do. The administration's reckless retreat from 
Afghanistan blew past the expert warnings, cost the lives of 13 
American servicemembers, let thousands of terrorists waltz out of 
prison, and incentivize others to challenge an America that looked 
cowardly.
  Its hesitating, indecisive, self-deterred approach to helping Ukraine 
before Putin invaded and in the earliest days right afterwards left 
freedom's friends flat-footed and are making the substantive fight more 
difficult than it ever had to be.
  And now the Biden administration apparently has pivoted from chasing 
another bad nuclear deal with Iran to trying to let terrorists out of 
Guantanamo Bay.
  These are just some of the reasons why 41 percent of Americans say 
the state of our union is weak--weak--and only 13 percent say it is 
strong.
  Of course, this administration has also created problems for American 
families closer to home. A nationwide poll published last week revealed 
that just 16 percent of Americans say they are in a better financial 
situation today than they were 2 years ago when the President and his 
party assumed total control of government.
  For 84 percent of Americans, one-party Democratic control of 
Washington either failed to live up to its promises or actively made 
life worse. Two years ago, over the objections of their own party's top 
economists, Washington Democrats misinterpreted a narrow election 
victory as a mandate for an unprecedented spending spree.
  When President Biden took office, inflation was at 1.4 percent. From 
Inauguration Day to today, inflation is over 13 percent.
  Working families have seen grocery prices jump 18.6 percent, used car 
prices rise 26.2 percent, and energy prices soar by 33.9 percent. 
Millions--millions--of Americans have earned pay raises at work, but 
runaway inflation has left them with less purchasing power than before.
  Our southern border is in crisis, shattering all-time records for 
illegal immigrant apprehensions. Streets and neighborhoods are being 
swallowed up by violent crime--after local Democrats have cut police 
budgets, liberal prosecutors have turned jails into revolving doors, 
and national Democrats spent years amplifying the kinds of anti-police 
rhetoric that result in more crime.
  And President Biden is helping the radical left go on offense and 
bring a culture war to the doorsteps of normal American families--
trying to squeeze Catholic hospitals and faith-based daycares out of 
business; trying to take school choice and curriculum transparency away 
from parents--and on and on and on.
  President Biden campaigned on being the adult in the room. But he is 
not even calling the shots in his own party. Over and over on issue 
after issue, this President hands the car keys to the radical left and 
turned himself into a passenger. That is why working families across 
the country have voted for change.
  They elected a Republican majority in the House of Representatives to 
put the emergency brakes on runaway liberal spending. They reelected 
all-star Republican governors in places like Texas, Georgia, and 
Florida. And they elevated a talented new generation of leaders, 
including the youngest serving governor in America--Governor Sanders of 
Arkansas--whom the American people will hear from tonight.
  Our country may still be struggling to understand what on earth 
Washington Democrats think they have actually accomplished in the past 
2 years. But they can be absolutely sure where Republicans stand.

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