Senators have not heard President Joe Biden’s first joint address to Congress, but six Republican senators say that his actions speak louder than words.
In a series of “prebuttals” to the president led by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst on Wednesday, the group centered on Biden pledging to reach across the aisle and yet making little effort to find bipartisan consensus.
“It’s been nearly 100 days since President Biden delivered his inaugural address promising our nation unity, not division,” Ernst said. “I was hopeful that he actually meant what he said. But that very same day, as soon as he reached the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Biden seemed to forget his own words, as he began signing a record amount of executive orders.”
Biden has signed 41 executive orders in his first 100 days, compared with 30 for former President Donald Trump and 19 for former President Barack Obama, according to CBS News.
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“Our state motto in North Carolina is ‘Esse quam videri’ — ‘To be rather than to seem.’ I think our motto does a good job summarizing the first 100 days of the Biden presidency. As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden made it seem he would govern as a moderate, pragmatic deal-maker,” Sen. Thom Tillis said. “Instead of leading on his instincts to bring America together, President Biden has followed his advisers’ recommendations to go it alone.”
“He has lost all credibility when it comes to bipartisanship,” said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso. “In just 99 days, President Biden has already shown himself to be one of the most radical presidents in American history.”
Republican senators have also taken issue with the quickly passed American Jobs Plan, billed as a coronavirus relief package, which passed on a party-line vote without any Republican support.
“They have done very little to reach across the aisle, engage Republicans, or have a serious conversation with us,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said of the White House. “They have shown they are not interested in bipartisanship as they continue to jam through their radical agenda and seek power grab after power grab.”
Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota noted that he met with Biden at the White House about an infrastructure package and requested that Democrats negotiate with them on finding common ground.
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“It’s been discouraging we haven’t seen more bipartisan work,” Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said.
A colleague of the Republican group of senators, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, will give the Republican response to Biden’s speech.
