Rep. Calvert Statement in Response to President Joe Biden’s Address to the Joint Session of Congress

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) issued the following statement in response to President Joe Biden's Address to the Joint Session of Congress:

"The American people have been through one of the most challenging years in the history of our country. We've seen in practice that our country is far stronger when we are united and working in unison towards a common goal. While there's broad support for a number of the goals laid out by the President tonight, I urge him to take a bipartisan approach to enacting the policies that would establish the means to those ends. Unfortunately, the first 100 days of the Biden administration has thus far been a betrayal of his pledge to work in a bipartisan manner.

In total, President Biden is pushing a $6 trillion agenda full of Democrats pet projects without accountability and little transparency. Even worse, their infrastructure plan would spend 94% of the money on things other than building roads, bridges, and highways. The Inland Empire region needs real infrastructure solutions and funding for projects that will relieve congestion. I will continue working with my colleagues who share my interest in building roads and highways, as well as pursue commonsense regulatory reforms that would allow us to build projects faster and cheaper.

I strongly oppose President Biden's desire to impose massive tax increases on American job creators and small businesses. Main Street suffered greatly over the past year and many mom and pop businesses struggled just to keep the doors open. I believe slapping them with a tax increase just as they are starting to get back on their feet would create a serious headwind for our economic recovery. We have a tremendous opportunity to see our economy take off and I believe the best thing the federal government can do is get out of the way.

I also hope the President recognizes the crisis at the border that is putting children and women at risk. We need a strong border and a consistent message that reinforces the legal pathway to come to the U.S. We need mandatory E-Verify to ensure that American jobs go to American workers and those legally authorized to work here.

Finally, America, while not perfect, is the greatest country on Earth and a beacon of hope to those around the world. We should be proud of who we are as a country and a people. I believe in American exceptionalism and the American Dream, I hope that both Republicans and Democrats can come together as patriots to work on the challenges facing our country, with the hope and optimism that together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish."