As President Joe Biden marked the first anniversary of his presidency this week, congressional Republicans argued his first year in office was a failure, and they are poised to make significant gains in Congress in the midterm elections as a result.
“You can’t give it anything but a failing grade,” Georgia Rep. Drew Ferguson, chief deputy whip for House Republicans, told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
In a Wednesday press conference, Biden touted a decrease in child poverty and the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill among his accomplishments but acknowledged “frustration and fatigue in this country” from the “physical, emotional, and psychological weight” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Rising consumer prices are a challenge tied to the pandemic, Biden said, pushing his Build Back Better legislation as a step to lowering costs. The plan, which includes key portions of Biden’s domestic agenda, is stalled in the Senate, where West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not support the bill last month.
But Biden said he stood by his accomplishments.
“I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen,” the president said.
Ferguson questioned that comment.
“For him to say that he overperformed, I’m not sure what metrics he’s using,” Ferguson said, pointing to “double-digit inflation,” rising gas prices, “abject failure on COVID testing, the COVID response.”
However, Ferguson argued that passing the Build Back Better legislation wouldn’t decrease the inflation that frustrates consumers and voters.
“You don’t put out a burning fire by pouring more gasoline. You go the exact opposite way,” he said. “Let’s think about what’s causing the inflation: It has been caused by excess government spending, it is being caused by energy policy that’s causing fuel costs to go through the roof. It is being caused by policies that have driven the labor participation rate to its lowest level in probably the last 40 years.”
Asked what solutions Republicans could offer if they win back the House amid a divided government, Ferguson argued a Republican House majority would “force compromise.”
“It’s going to pull the Democrats back to the middle, force them away from this far-left agenda that they had been relentlessly pursuing,” he said.
Republicans, Ferguson said, should make the case to the American people that “our agenda is much better for them.”
“It is what Americans want,” he said. “We’re not telling them what to do; we are responding to what Americans are asking for. We’ve got to get that message out.”
Ferguson argued Republicans’ election-year message should center on driving down inflation, reviving the economy, and focusing on the needs of families, such as providing a good education for children.
“I think once that contrast is drawn, I think America will entrust the Republican Party to lead Congress again,” he said.
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A poll this week from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found a majority disapprove of his handling of the presidency by 56% to 43%, while just 28% say they want Biden to run for reelection in 2024.
Asked if Biden may bounce back in the eyes of voters over the course of the year should his legislation pass, Ferguson said, “Until they change course, you’re going to continue to see these policies have negative effects on the American people.”
“And I don’t look at it as if he will change course for better or worse,” he said.
