President Joe Biden “no longer exists” as he was in the Senate, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, who blames liberal Democrats and says the administration’s agenda is “the most radical in the history of American politics.”
The South Carolina Republican told the Washington Examiner in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday that Biden is no longer reminiscent of the senator from Delaware he served alongside for several years, known there and during his time as vice president for being a bipartisan deal-maker.
“If he does exist, he needs to reemerge and reassert,” Graham quipped.
Graham attributed this change to liberal Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are leading the charge on policies, including the House-passed Equality Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The idea of the Equality Act would require basically every girls sports program … to allow biological males to play if they define themselves as a female, it would destroy girls athletics,” the senator said.
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Graham told the Washington Examiner he had not spoken to Biden since he was elected last year, adding, “[Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell hasn’t talked to him” either.
He said Democrats will only commit to good-faith negotiating with Republicans in Congress if the GOP regains control of the House or Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
“The Joe Biden that we know that would be a deal-maker, that would find a way forward on an infrastructure bill, is AWOL or doesn’t exist. I don’t know what’s happened to the Biden administration,” Graham said, noting the president’s handling of the southern border is “tragic” and “dangerous.”
More than 100,000 migrants were encountered at the border in February, and agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas were encountering 1,500 migrants a day.
The senator called on Biden to visit the U.S.-Mexico border and “see it for yourself.”
On Wednesday, Biden placed Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of addressing the substantial uptick in migrants, including unaccompanied children, flocking to the border.
Graham made an appeal to finding bipartisan agreements between Democrats and Republicans on immigration reform. “There’s a way to get the Dream Act passed” if the migrant flow problem can be resolved, he said.
If passed in the Senate, the Dream Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for up to 3 million immigrants who have grown up in the United States to apply for temporary legal status and to obtain permanent legal status eventually.
When asked whether he thought Biden was in charge of the policy his administration is implementing, Graham said, “He’s not in charge.”
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“You know who I think is in charge? The people who are going to primary” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Graham said, adding, “he would get fired” if the New York Democrat does not push to end the Senate filibuster or push for Washington, D.C., statehood.
