[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 46 (Thursday, March 14, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2385-S2386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       State of the Union Address

  Mr. President, now, on a separate matter, I come to the floor to 
speak about President Biden's State of the Union speech. The speech is 
likely a preview of his 2024 acceptance speech at the Democrat 
convention this summer in Chicago.
  From start to finish, it was the angriest, most partisan, most 
divisive, and most vindictive State of the Union that I can recall.
  President Biden used his most important speech in 50 years to launch 
a direct attack on half of America. He shouted, lied about them, 
belittled their concerns. And if people had the gall to disagree with 
him, he screamed that they were the enemies of democracy.
  President Biden said all of this to hide his disastrous record of 
failures.
  Three years ago, President Biden said:

       Without unity, there is . . . only bitterness and fury.

  Last Thursday night, what we saw from President Biden was bitterness 
and fury.
  To me, this was an insult to every American. The President showed no 
respect for the American people, for our institutions, or for the 
truth. Instead, we heard an hour of dismissals, denials, distortions, 
and deceptive spin.
  President Biden has only himself to blame. It is his disastrous 
policies that caused us to be in the mess that we find ourselves.
  President Biden said:

       The state of our union is strong and getting stronger.

  Well, that may be his opinion, but it is not what the American people 
believe. Prices are up 18 percent today compared to the day that he 
took office.
  President Biden said he needs new laws to secure the border. That is 
not true, either. President Biden has the power to secure the border, 
and he knows it. He simply lacks the backbone.
  During his first 100 days, the President took 94 Executive actions 
that threw our border wide open. He stopped building the wall. He 
turned ``detain and deport'' into ``catch and release.'' And more than 
9 million illegal immigrants have poured across our southern border 
since Joe Biden became President.
  Now, that includes hundreds of terror suspects and thousands of 
hardened criminals. This is dangerous for our country. Yet Joe Biden 
can't say that.
  Since his speech last Thursday, he has spent more time groveling for 
using the term ``illegal'' immigrant than apologizing for not knowing 
the name of Laken Riley. People all across the country remember her as 
the 24-year-old nursing student who was murdered by an illegal 
immigrant.
  President Biden also claimed our global alliances are stronger than 
they ever were. That is not true. Since Joe Biden became President, 
America has lost its standing in the world. Our allies don't trust us. 
Our enemies don't fear us.
  By every metric, we are worse off today than we were the day Joe 
Biden took office. Seven in 10 Americans say that our Nation is heading 
in the wrong direction. No amount of scolding or lecturing by the 
President is going to change that. No amount of yelling will cover up 
President Biden's endless failures to lower prices.
  Yelling by President Biden is not going to restore confidence in the

[[Page S2386]]

American dream, which his own inflation eroded. Angry blame-shifting by 
President Biden is not going to stop the flood or reverse the flood of 
the 9 million illegal immigrants and illegal border crossings, nor will 
it protect innocent Americans from the illegal immigrant crime.
  Families in my home State of Wyoming and all across America are fed 
up with the Biden blame game. Americans are not imagining that their 
grocery bills are higher than they ever were before. The bills actually 
are higher. Americans aren't imagining that the border is more 
dangerous than ever before. It is more dangerous.
  And watching President Biden's speech, it is clear to the people 
across Wyoming and to like-minded Americans that the President doesn't 
listen.
  Fortunately, Senate Republicans are listening. You heard it last week 
from the junior Senator from Alabama. Her response was remarkably 
positive. Unlike President Biden, she offered a bright vision for the 
future of our Nation. The Senator said:

       Together, we can reawaken the heroic spirit of a great 
     nation.

  And she is right.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.