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Scalise: Biden Will Need to Take Accountability for Mistakes

  • 1.26.23 Kudlow
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network’s Kudlow to discuss how President Biden refuses to take responsibility for his self-made crises. Leader Scalise slammed President Biden for blaming Republicans for his own failures and for misrepresenting Republicans’ position on Social Security and Medicare. Leader Scalise emphasized that Republicans do not want to cut Social Security and Medicare and urged President Biden to negotiate with House Republicans to curb his administration’s out-of-control spending. Additionally, Leader Scalise slammed President Biden’s raids on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and for shutting down U.S. energy production.   
Click here or on the image above to view the interview.  
On Democrats’ scaremongering on Social Security and Medicare: “No, it's not [true that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare and want to default on the debt], Larry. And most importantly, [President] Biden knows it's not true, and he keeps saying it because he wants to scare the American people. “But let's talk [about] some facts. [President] Biden spent trillions of dollars doing things like paying people not to work. Now, when he did that, you were rightly critical of that. Going back the last two years, when everybody's looking for workers, [President] Biden was paying people not to work, and millions of people took him up on it. Those people are not paying into Social Security. “So [President] Biden's proposals have actually undermined Social Security and expedited the bankruptcy of Social Security. We voted against it because we don't want that to happen. We don't want Social Security to be jeopardized, like [President] Biden has done as President, and so he pushed those policies.  “[President] Biden has a history of creating crises and then blaming other people. He shut down American energy production, prices skyrocketed, and then he tried to blame everybody under the sun. The American people didn't buy it. He opened up America's border. Millions of people flooded in. Every day in America, 300 young people die from fentanyl overdoses because of [President] Biden's open border. And he's trying to blame everybody under the sun for it. “At some point in time, this President is going to need to look in the mirror and take account for the mistakes he's made and the failures he's made that are hurting [the] American people. We're going to hold them accountable, Larry, and I think that's what he doesn't like the most." On Democrats falsely claiming that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare: “First of all, Larry, this is the definition of what Saul Alinsky laid out in his book Rules for Radicals. They have followed that playbook for years, going back to President Obama. They accuse the other side of things they're actually doing so that people don't look at what they're doing. And history is replete. We can get you example after example, and I mentioned just a few that [President] Biden himself has done, but again, they know this. They know it's a lie, and yet they still keep telling it.  “This is the President who was, just a few months ago, on 60 Minutes saying that it was irresponsible for a President to have classified documents. At the time, he knew he had classified documents in his garage. He just didn't think you would find out about it, Larry. And so now the American people are finding out about it, and [Democrats are] trying to act like it didn't happen. This is what they've done over and over again. They want to scare people.  “They talk about the debt ceiling. [President] Biden went on the biggest spending spree in our nation's history the last two years, racking up trillions of dollars in spending and debt, and then he maxed out the credit card. The nation's debt limit is the nation's credit card, he maxed it out. And now he just wants us to add a couple more trillion dollars so he can go spend more money. “And like I said, these things have actually not only led to inflation but when [President] Biden is getting rid of those welfare requirements, paying millions of people not to work, not only are they not working, they're not paying into the Social Security trust fund. Social Security works. Seniors paid into it their whole life. They retired, they earned that benefit, but the benefit continues on because younger people work and pay into Social Security.  “When [President] Biden is paying them your tax dollars to sit at home and not work, they're not paying into Social Security. That, what [President] Biden did, undermines Social Security. So he did it. He doesn't want to get the blame for it. So he just says by blaming Republicans, he thinks the problem will go away. It's not. We're going to push back on it. We're going to hold up a mirror in front of [President] Biden to the American people and say, ‘He's the one who did that.’ “You see it at gas stations. He did it. You know, right now, we've got a bill on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve today. The President has raided it. We say if you raid, you're going to have to have a plan to refill it. He issued a veto threat, and in his veto threat, he says that his plans have lower gas prices. Larry, gas prices are up 50 percent since [President] Biden took office. Yet, in his veto threat, he says he's lowered gas prices. Now, just by him saying it does that make it true? “Families know when they're paying 50 percent more. The President can say whatever he wants, it's an increase of 50 percent. I know it's been a long time since he's filled his Corvette up with gasoline, but if he did today, it's going to cost him 50 percent more than before he was President of the United States because of his policies." On restoring the dignity of work:  “Look, we all believe in a safety net, Larry, for people that fall on hard times. Nobody thinks that you should have to pay for somebody else sitting at home who is able-bodied and is able to work. They're 35 years old, they just don't want to work. That's their right, they're an American. It's not your right to pay for them to sit at home. And, by the way, by them sitting at home. They're not paying into Social Security, and that makes it less stable. That's what [President] Biden has done. “And we'll strengthen Social Security. I would just venture to say [President] Biden would probably oppose that policy. So who is trying to hurt Social Security? Of course, it's [President] Biden. And yet he'll try to blame anyone else because he doesn't want to be held accountable. We're going to hold him accountable." On President Biden raiding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve:  “What this bill does that we are taking up today and tomorrow on the House Floor, House Resolution 21 does, it says if the President raids the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he's got to show a plan to the country on how he'll replenish it. How we're going to put oil back in. “Look, as you point out, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is like the nation's piggy bank for oil. You know, if you've got a piggy bank and you raid it, you didn't just increase your salary. You've taken away your rainy day fund, whatever you might have used that for in case of an emergency. It's there for an emergency. If there's a hurricane that hits the Gulf [and] disrupts the oil markets, you've got oil there to make sure you can continue to flow oil to your refineries to keep the supply going. It's not there to mask bad policies. “So, Biden has raided 40 percent of our nation's reserves. And he hasn't even attempted to try to replenish it. And while he's been raiding the reserve, gas prices have gone up, Larry. Again, the President said in his letter, his veto threat to us, his raiding of SPR has lowered gas prices. Maybe he hasn't been to the pump lately. We surely have. Fifty percent higher is what people are paying for gasoline while he has been raiding our reserves to the tune of 40 percent. So he doesn't understand energy policy. His brilliant experts are flying at Davos on private jets telling you not to use fossil fuels. “You know, this is the hypocrisy of the left every single day. How about we just allow Americans to supply our own energy, so we don't need to be relying on foreign countries? And by the way, if you want to reduce carbon emissions and save the planet, we make energy cleaner than anybody else in the world. Let's make more energy here, not less. The President's policies have been misguided. It's why gas prices are 50 percent higher since [President] Biden took the oath of office." On the need to reverse President Biden's war on American energy: “You need leases, you need permits, you need pipelines. You need an all-of-the-above energy strategy so that he doesn't have to fly on Air Force One to Saudi Arabia and beg the Saudi princes for oil. We can make it all right here, cleaner than anybody else in the world, and it'll lower the price of gas at the pump. “There's so much good policy there on [our] robust energy strategy. [Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman] McMorris Rogers [and Natural Resources Committee Chairman] Westerman. Our chairmen of the committees are ready to go. We're starting to work on that legislation already. And in the next few months, you'll see it on the floor. I hope [President] Biden joins us if he wants to lower energy costs. That's how you do it. The things he's done have actually raised prices by 50 percent. “Maybe he had the chart upside down, Larry, because he said it was a reduction. A 50 percent increase. Mr. President is not a reduction. You might want to go back, maybe it was Common Core math. I don't know. But they got the numbers wrong. Maybe he'll rescind the veto threat once he realizes how wrong he was."