Dear Friend,

On Wednesday night, President Biden opened his State of the Union address with courteous greetings to leaders on both sides of the aisle. He congratulated Speaker Kevin McCarthy on capturing the gavel, Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries on his new leadership position, and Leader Mitch McConnell for becoming the longest serving Senate Leader. He recognized Chuck Schumer as the Minority Leader, a mistake that was quickly covered up as he turned his attention to recognizing former Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the "greatest Speaker in the history of this country," a title that will surely receive some challenge. 

All in all, the first few minutes of his State of the Union speech seemed relatively devoid of the partisan attacks we've seen from the President when he occupies the bully pulpit, and I'm sure I was not the only Member who began expecting a long-winded but mild hour of President Biden finally fulfilling his promise to be a unifier instead of the division he's sown for two years. Unfortunately, the President's message shifted from a message of unity to one of misleading confusion.

The President largely ignored or used misleading statistics to address the issues that are most concerning to Americans:  inflation, the economy, poor leadership in government, and the border. 

Instead of addressing the impact that government spending has had on inflation, the President hinted at more spending while dismissing the dangers that high levels of inflation still pose to our economy. 

He touted the jobs numbers from December, while at the same time ignoring that real wages have declined for 21 straight months under his Administration, meaning that people can afford less with what they earn. 

The President stuck to his usual tactic of ignoring the border crisis despite it being one of the major concerns of the American people. 

At this point in his speech, the President seemed to be relying heavily on misleading statistics and political doublespeak to convince the American people that their everyday experiences are fantasy. The President tried to convince Americans not to worry about inflation, even though the inflation rate remains more than three times above the Federal Reserve's target. The economy is actually strong, despite half of Americans saying they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, the President tried to argue. Ignore the border crisis, like he has for two years, the President seemed to suggest. 

Unfortunately for all who watched, the President did not stop on these low notes. Instead, he doubled down and switched his tactics from quoting misleading figures to employing unfiltered deceit. 

The President claimed that his Administration had reduced the deficit. "In the last two years, my administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion – the largest deficit reduction in American history," the President claimed. This is an indefensible lie. In truth, President Biden’s actions since he took office will add more than $4.8 trillion to deficits. The President has repeated this fallacy over and over again, despite multiple fact checkers citing this statement as false. 

The President's speech eventually completely fell apart when he began attempted to deceive the American people on Republican policy positions. What began as a speech that promoted unity devolved into false mud-slinging when President Biden claimed that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare, a claim that has been repeatedly refuted by Republicans. 

In his speech, the President showed that he does not have a plan to address the issues most important to Americans. Republicans will continue to push for accountability and transparency from this Administration, and we will continue to pass legislation that will get our nation back on track.