WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden exhorted Congress Tuesday night to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he delivered a State of the Union address.
Kansas Senior Senator Jerry Moran disagreed with the President's optimism. In a statement from his office, Moran wrote, “The American people need look no further than their grocery receipts and bank accounts to understand the grave state of our union. President Biden’s policies have contributed to high inflation, driven up prices by more than 13 percent over the past two years and stifled American energy production – leading to higher energy bills and high gas prices.
Kansas junior Senator Roger Marshall agreed with Moran "This President and his allies in Congress have recklessly borrowed and spent our nation into a recession. Under President Biden’s tenure inflation is up over 13 percent. For anyone who fills their car up with gas, goes to the grocery store, who pays their rent or home heating bill, inflation is outpacing wages and Social Security checks, and Americans are feeling the pinch."
In his 73-minute speech, Biden sought to portray a nation dramatically improved from the one he took charge of two years ago: from a reeling economy to one prosperous with new jobs; from a crippled, pandemic-weary nation to one that has now reopened, and a democracy that has survived its biggest test since the Civil War.
Moran continued, “The American people elected a politically-divided Congress not to continue the discord in Washington but to force their elected leaders to find common ground and commonsense solutions. When President Biden was running for office, he stated he would be a middle-ground President."
"I urge President Biden to work with elected officials across the aisle to pass policies that reduce inflation, find consensus on the border crisis and send a clear message to our adversaries that we are a strong, unified nation.”
Kansas Third District Rep. Sharice Davids, a democrat, didn't agree with everything she heard from the President.
“Tonight, I was looking for President Biden to share his plan for the challenges ahead, domestic and international, and to acknowledge the need for continued oversight and implementation on the bipartisan accomplishments of the last two years—particularly the infrastructure law and new domestic manufacturing investments."
"I heard those things from the President, even though I didn’t agree with all of them, she wrote in a statement from her office. "I believe both parties should be open to conversations about the upcoming debt limit—though I don’t think threatening Medicare and Social Security is an appropriate negotiating tactic. I appreciated the President’s attention on China, both in an economic and national security context, and I hope that will be an area of bipartisan cooperation in Congress. I think we can all agree we should make more in America.”