One year under President Biden
January 20th marked one year since President Joe Biden was sworn into office. In his inaugural address, President Biden promised bipartisanship and unity. Yet one year later, instead of keeping those promises, the American people have suffered crisis after crisis because of Washington Democrats’ failed policies.
When Joe Biden took office, he inherited a recovering economy, strong border policies, and an energy independent nation. But throughout the first year of his presidency, the North Country suffered from historic inflation, skyrocketing energy prices, and a multitude of crises. Our country is on the wrong track because of these failed policies, and I am proud to lead the fight for North Country small businesses, veterans, farms, law enforcement officers, and hardworking families.
PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
On the campaign trail in his basement, Joe Biden promised to shut down the COVID-19 virus.
He also promised that all Americans would “have access to regular, reliable, and free testing.” Instead, America has faced the highest number of daily new COVID-19 cases of any country around the world. More Americans tragically died from COVID-19 in 2021 than in 2020. And testing shortages are rampant. Additionally, the Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) attempted to halt the federal supply of monoclonal antibody therapies to regions of the country with a greater than 80 percent prevalence of the omicron COVID-19 variant.
It was not until I took action alongside my colleagues and wrote to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting a reversal to ensure a supply is made available to New York that HHS announced it would continue to allow states like New York to order these critical monoclonal antibody treatments.
One of the key tenets of Joe Biden’s COVID-19 policy is his executive action imposing unconstitutional vaccine mandates on private businesses and healthcare workers. This has exacerbated the already dire labor shortage in our hospitals and health centers across America and in the North Country. Thankfully, the Supreme Court overturned this illegal vaccine mandate on private businesses. But the fight isn’t over.
I will continue to speak up for the many healthcare workers who have wrongly lost their jobs. Our healthcare workers carried us through the pandemic. Now is not the time to punish our frontline workers with vaccine mandates.
INFLATION CRISIS
After just one year of Washington Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree, New Yorkers are paying more for almost everything — from gas to groceries to heating bills to rental cars to bacon and eggs. Inflation is a tax on every American. This month, inflation hit a 40-year high, which means Americans haven’t faced prices this inflated in my lifetime. This rampant inflation is a direct result of Democrats’ out-ofcontrol spending of trillions of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
According to analysis from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, this surging inflation will cost most U.S. households $3,500 this year. Our North Country residents work hard for their paychecks and deserve better.
ENERGY CRISIS
This winter, North Country families are paying more to heat their homes and fill up their gas tanks. This week, the average price for a gallon of gas in New York hit $3.48 — and even higher in parts of our district. But just one year ago, the average price was $2.44 per gallon.
From his cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline to his moratorium on energy exploration on federal lands, Joe Biden’s energy policy has been to attack American energy independence. These harmful executive actions have killed American jobs and left us more dependent on foreign oil. To make matters worse, House Democrats are working on passing another spending package that prioritizes Green New Deal policies that would include a “Heat Your Home” tax, which would only exacerbate this problem and increase energy prices more.
NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN BORDER CRISIS
In his first 100 days in office, President Biden paused deportations for millions of illegal immigrants and halted construction of the border wall. Since then, we have seen seven straight months of record-breaking illegal immigrant crossings and over 1.7 million apprehensions. Despite this catastrophe at our Southern
Border, President Biden and House Democrats are pushing mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. Several of my constituents who work to protect our Northern Border have been displaced from their homes to work long hours to fight Joe Biden’s crisis on the Southern Border.
Joe Biden’s record number of border crossings is forcing our Border Patrol agents in the North Country into nonotice deployments, disrupting their families, and burdening agents with a crisis created by this Administration’s failed policies.
While the Biden Administration’s failed policies are incentivizing immigration at the Southern Border, President Biden delayed the reopening of the Northern Border for months at the expense of our North Country families, businesses, and communities. Even after Canada reopened their side of the border, the Biden Administration failed to reciprocate for months.
While President Biden failed month after month to make a plan and reopen the Northern Border, I proudly led the charge towards a successful reopening.
NATIONAL SECURITY CRISIS
Under Biden’s leadership, we also witnessed the largest foreign policy failure in a generation in his failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. President Biden’s disastrous surrender left Americans and Afghan allies behind at the mercy of the Taliban. This rushed withdrawal tragically resulted in the deaths of 13 American servicemembers. Our nation will never forget their sacrifice.
The toll this event took on members of our military community and veterans in the North Country is not lost on me, which is why I have been working to improve mental health resources for our veterans and servicemen and women. Your service will never be forgotten.
• • • The job of any President is to keep our communities safe and promote economic prosperity. Joe Biden has failed on both accounts. Right now, every North Country family is facing historic inflation and increased energy and utility bills.
In the face of these adverse consequences to one year of Joe Biden’s policies, I will continue to stand up for North
Country families against burdensome government mandates and regulations, painful tax hikes and reckless spending, and unconstitutional actions by Far-Left Democrats in Washington.