Happy Hanukkah

“Happy Hanukkah! May love and light fill your heart as you celebrate the Festival of Lights, a time for celebration, peace, and hope. The Republican Party of Arkansas will always support the Jewish community and the people of Israel. We stand with you, and we hope you enjoy this special holiday.” - RPA Chairman Joseph K. Wood

Biden Is Failing Americans

Under Joe Biden, America is on the wrong track. Whether it's the high cost of living, our open Southern border, rising crime, or failing education system, Biden has only made things worse in his three years in office. 

What you need to know:

America is on the wrong track

• 65% of the country thinks the nation is on the wrong track.
• In Biden’s America, savings are down, real incomes are down, and  economic confidence is down.
• 62% of workers report living paycheck-to-paycheck – including 73% of millennials – with more people forced to pick up a side hustle to make ends meet.
• Credit card balances are now at an all-time high.
• 74% say their financial situation is not improving, with almost half saying their financial situation is actively “getting worse” under Biden.

Cost of Living

• Americans are paying the price for Biden’s anti-American energy agenda.
• On average, Americans have lost over $2,250 paying increased energy costs since Biden took office.
• Gas prices under Biden have been over $3 a gallon for over 900 days in a row  and he has threatened to veto bills that would increase domestic energy production, reform the permitting processes, and unleash American energy.
• Nearly 20 million households are behind on their utility bills.
• Congress’s Joint Economic Committee estimates that families have lost over $18,860 paying for the increased cost of living under “Bidenomics.”
• Biden’s $1.9 trillion “stimulus” sent inflation soaring, with Americans forced to pay higher prices for virtually everything.
• Americans have lost over $10,000 on average paying for the increased cost of living since Biden took office.  
• Real wages are down around 3% since Biden took office.

Education

• Biden slow walked reopening school for months, even letting teachers’ union bosses and major campaign funders dictate  CDC guidance.
• Under Biden, test scores have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades and hundreds of thousands of children are simply missing from the classroom.
• More than 25% of students – 6.5 million kids – were classified as chronically absent during the 2021-2022 school year because they missed at least 10% of the school year.
• The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), better known as the nation’s report card, found that math scores fell by the largest margin in 50 years, while the average reading score is now the same as it was in 2004.
• Just 13% of 8^th graders met proficiency standards for U.S. history, and 20% for civics – both marking all-time lows.
• Only 33% of 4^th graders are proficient in reading, and 36% in math.
• In 8^th grade, only 31% of students are proficient in reading, and 26% in math.
• These declines have been even worse for minority students, who were put at a further disadvantage due to pandemic school closures, “in part because their schools were more likely to continue remote learning for longer periods of time.”

Crime

• So far in 2023, 26 of the top 30 cities with the highest murder rates are run by Democrats. 
• This continues the violent wave of crime that has been building for the past few years, ever since the defund the police movement – championed by Democrats – began.
• Last year, at least nine cities, seven of which are Democrat-run, saw record homicides.
• In Biden’s first year, at least 12 major U.S. cities – all Democrat-run – set new homicide records.

Border

• Joe Biden once again owns the worst year at the border on record, after breaking the previous record set last year.
• 240,988 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in October — the highest monthly total ever recorded and a cap on the worst fiscal year on record.
• The Administration refuses to acknowledge this is a crisis that is impacting all communities.
• More than 8.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden took office.
• This includes the more than 1.7 million gotaways that have escaped past Border Patrol into the U.S.
• Border officials say that the official number of gotaways vastly undercounts the illegal immigrants  who make it into the U.S.
• Meanwhile, at least 169 individuals on the terror watchlist were arrested at the southern border over the last fiscal year, which is more than the previous six years combined.
• Illicit drugs are flowing into the country at an alarming rate, with only 5 to 10% being intercepted as border officials struggle to contain the smuggling.
• 1,318 pounds of deadly fentanyl and 9,539 pounds of methamphetamine were seized at the southern border in October alone, with much more getting through.

The bottom line:

The country cannot afford four more years of Joe Biden and his failed policies. Republicans are working hard to deliver a bright future for the American people and voters will remember that at the ballot box in November