Rep. Calvert Statement on the State of the Union

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) issued the following statement on President Joe Biden's State of the Union address:

"After a year of President Biden's presidency and one-party control of Washington, the Inland Empire is suffering on many fronts.

Thanks to President Biden's reckless and inflationary agenda, Inland Empire families experienced an inflation rate of 8.6% in January, which was the fourth highest inflation rate of any region in the nation. As wages trail rising prices, Inland Empire workers have taken a massive pay cut since President Biden took office. Riverside County commuters are now paying an extra $1.15 per gallon every time they fill up their tank compared to one year ago. Yet President Biden wants to pour fuel on the fire by passing even more inflationary spending and strangle our domestic production of oil and gas to further a radical climate change agenda.

President Biden's open borders policies resulted in a crisis at our southern border that has overwhelmed our Border Patrol. The number of illegal immigrants and drugs flowing over the border has never been higher. On average, at least one person died every day last year in Riverside County from a fentanyl-related death. As I witnessed firsthand, this Administration allows illegal immigrants to flow across our southern border, provides them with a plane ticket to the interior of the country, and simply trusts they will show up for their immigration court date. Under Biden, every state has become a border state.

The Inland Empire has also paid an unbearably high price for President Biden's national security blunders. The poorly planned and politically rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan put U.S. servicemembers, our allies, and Afghan partners at avoidable risk. In the end, three Marines from the Inland Empire were killed while heroically trying to carry out a mission handed down by a President who made a fatal miscalculation.

I believe the weakness President Biden displayed in our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan contributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine. While we cannot change the past, I believe we must now lead in imposing severe sanctions on Putin, Russian officials, and oligarchs. The U.S. should take every opportunity to provide energy resources to our European allies as an alternative to Russian energy. We should also provide the Ukrainians with appropriate and necessary lethal military aid as rapidly as possible to help them defend their nation. As the Ranking Member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I look forward to reviewing the Biden administration's request for emergency funding to address the invasion of Ukraine.

In order to avoid another costly year full of crisis and catastrophe, I urge President Biden and Democrats in Congress to reject their radical, inflationary agenda that seeks to create generational dependence on the government and instead reach across the aisle to work with Republicans on solving America's long list of challenges. I believe strongly in American exceptionalism and the promise of our country; it is time to pragmatically address our challenges, not cling to emergency powers and manufacture continued crisis to fundamentally change the very foundation of our country."

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