Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina gave a superb “Republican response” to President Joe Biden’s first address in the House chamber.
Without a deep dive, and without the word-for-word text in front of me, here are the lines I liked, with quotes pretty darn close but not guaranteed to be absolutely accurate. I present them not in the order he said them, but as they take prominence in my mind.
First, he said, “America is not a racist country.” Thank you, senator: You are right.
A repeated refrain: “common sense and common ground.” But as he spoke, he played with the words: “Common sense makes common ground.”
He criticized Biden for failing to help open schools after the pandemic closures. “Locking kids out of the classroom is locking adults out in the future.” Also, he pushed hard, and well, for school choice. Because, he said, “education is the closest thing to magic in America.”
He said Biden campaigned on “unity,” but hasn’t offered any. And Democratic Party leaders in Congress have been worse, even when offered olive branches, and even on an infrastructure plan with which Republicans want to help. Democrats, he said, “won’t even build bridges [figuratively] to build [literal] bridges.”
Scott quite famously produced a police reform bill last year that embraced almost every idea that both parties mutually agreed on, and offered great openness to Democratic amendments, but Democrats filibustered to block debate from even beginning on his bill. “My friends across the aisle,” Scott said, “seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution.”
The new Georgia voting law, he said, “if you actually read it, it’s mainstream.” The Democrats’ H.R. 1, though, is nothing but a major “Washington power grab.” He detailed several of the ways it is indeed a power grab, and a heavily partisan one at that. “It’s about rigging elections in the future.”
Scott also rightly noted Republican accomplishments over the last four years, showing how Republicans did welcome Democratic input, and produced criminal justice reform, opportunity zones, and major new funding for historically black universities and colleges.
Throughout, Scott’s style was winsome, and everything in his very being, along with his words, was a testament to faith and freedom.
Thank you, Senator Scott.
