Biden Touts Economic Progress While Savaging House Republicans
President travels to union crowd to talk about what his administration is doing for the nation
President Biden spoke to a labor-union audience Thursday both to highlight the economic progress the nation is making under his leadership and also to attack the plans of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Long an ally of organized labor, Biden visited the Steamfitters Local 602, in Springfield, Va., just outside Washington DC, to deliver his speech.
The visit came on a day when the Commerce Department reported that US economic growth exceeded expectations.
Gross domestic product, or GDP — the sum of all goods and services produced for the October-to-December period of 2022 — rose at a 2.9-percent annualized pace, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Economists had expected a reading of 2.8 percent.
Biden welcomed the news, and rolled it into his litany of accomplishments since he took office two years ago.
“Every three months, the economic outlook of America is laid out on an official report — a government report — on the state of the economy. It came out today, this morning. And I’m not sure — and I mean it sincerely — the news could have been any better,” Biden said. “Economic growth is up, stronger than experts expected, at 2.9 percent we’re growing.”
The GDP result only adds to other benchmarks moving in the right direction during his term, the president said.
“Jobs are the highest the highest in American history. And wages are up, and they’re growing faster than inflation. Over the past six months, inflation has gone down every month and, God willing, will continue to do that,” he said. “Manufacturing jobs continue to go up, stronger than any time in the last 40 years.
“And I don’t think it’s unfair to say that this is all evidence that the Biden economic plan, because of you all, is actually working. It’s working,” Biden added, to applause. “It really is.”
However, now it's time to “protect those gains” from the emerging plans of the House Republican majority which took over this month, according to the president.
Already, new Speaker Kevin McCarthy and others are already looking to hold a vote on the federal government's debt ceiling hostage to negotiations for deep cuts in federal programs.
“We’ve got to protect those gains that our policies have generated — protect them from the MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives who are threatening to destroy this progress,” Biden said. “Look, you know, this ain’t your father’s Republican Party. This is a different breed of cat, as they say. You know, as hard as it is to believe, they want to pass legislation to do the following things. And I’ve been saying this — no one believed it until they started to introduce this stuff.”
Republicans want to cut taxes for billionaires who pay virtually only 8 percent of their income now., Biden warned. “You know, a babysitter pays more than that” 8 percent, he added.
“And this one I love. They want to impose a 30 percent national sales tax on everything from food, clothing, school supplies, housing, cars — a whole deal. Thirty percent,” Biden said. “Oh, you think I’m joking. If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it.
“And, folks, the reason they want to do that — they want to eliminate the income tax system. Because guess what? That’s the only way that millionaires and billionaires have to pay any taxes. But guess what will happen to all of you all if, in fact, 30 percent sales tax on everything you buy, from eggs to automobiles? Not a joke,” the president continued, adding that Republicans are also eying cuts to Medicare and Social Security programs.
Biden promised to personally stand in the way of the right-wing agenda.
“This nation has gone through too much. We’ve come too far to let that happen,” he said. “I will not let it happen. Not on my watch. I will veto everything they send me,” he added, to applause. “Not after all the progress we’ve made and how far we’ve come.”
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