Biden hammers GOP on economy
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday assailed House Republicans over their tax and spending plans, including potential changes to popular retirement programs, before what is likely to be a run for reelection.
In a speech in Springfield, Va., Biden sought to reframe the economic narrative away from the rapid price increases that have dogged much of his first two years in office and toward his stewardship of an economy that has churned out steady growth and strong job gains.
Biden, speaking to members of a steamfitters union, sought to take credit for the strength of the labor market, moderating inflation and news from the Commerce Department on Thursday morning that the economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.9 percent at the end of last year. In contrast, he cast House Republicans and their economic policy proposals as roadblocks to continued improvement.
“At the time I was sworn in, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling,” Biden said before ticking through the actions he had taken to aid the recovery. Those included $1.9 trillion in pandemic and economic aid; a bipartisan bill to repair and upgrade roads, bridges, water pipes and other infrastructure; and a sweeping industrial policy bill to spur domestic investment in advanced manufacturing sectors like semiconductors and speed research and development to seed new industries.
Republicans have accused the Biden administration of fanning inflation by funneling too much federal money into the economy and have called for deep spending cuts and other fiscal changes.
Biden denounced those proposals, including a plan to replace federal income taxes with a national sales tax, curb safety-net spending and risk a government default by refusing to raise the federal borrowing limit without deep spending cuts. Why, he asked, “would Americans give up the progress we’ve made for the chaos they’re suggesting?”
“I will not let anyone use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip,” Biden said, reiterating his refusal to negotiate over raising the debt limit. “The United
States of America — we pay our debts.”
But the president also sought to reach out to working-class voters who have increasingly voted for Republicans in recent elections. Biden said those voters had been left behind by U.S. economic policy in recent years, and he tried to woo them back by promising that his policies would continue to bring high-paying manufacturing jobs that do not require a college degree to people who feel “invisible” in the economy.
Republicans in the chamber have begun a series of investigations into Biden, his family and his administration. They have also demanded deep
cuts in federal spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit, a position that risks an economic catastrophe.
The president has refused to tie any spending cuts to raising the debt limit and has called on Congress to increase the $31.4 trillion cap so the nation can continue paying its bills and avoid a federal default.
House Republicans have not yet released a detailed or unified economic agenda, and they have not made a clear set of demands for raising the debt limit.
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