Press Releases
Scalise Slams Dems’ Misplaced Priorities As Americans Remain Stranded in Afghanistan
Washington, DC,
August 24, 2021
Today, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) called out President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Congressional Democrats for ramming their $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending spree through the House of Representatives even though it will fuel inflation, send jobs overseas, and bankrupt future generations of Americans. In addition, Whip Scalise slammed President Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan without having a strategy in place to prevent the Taliban from taking over the country. Whip Scalise criticized President Biden for spending his time pressuring Democrats to vote for trillions in tax and spending increases rather than working the phones to get Americans trapped behind enemy lines home safe.
 Click here or on the image above to watch Whip Scalise’s floor speech.
Whip Scalise's remarks:
“I rise in objection to this whole process, Madam Speaker. What we're doing here today, this is an example of the misplaced priorities of this Democrat majority.
“Let's start with the bill at hand, this package of bills that includes a budget that I'm sure very few people in this chamber have read that authorizes the taxing and spending of trillions [of] more dollars. Now, what does that mean? They call it ‘The For the Children Act.’ It really should be called ‘The Mountains of Debt For the Children Act’ because that's what it does.
“If you look at inflation today, every family in America is facing inflation. They're paying over 40 percent more for gasoline, for cars, for things that they buy at the grocery store. Families know that if you add trillions more debt, trillions more spending, trillions more in taxes, inflation will only go up. And you know who's going to pay for it? It's not anybody in this chamber, Madam Speaker. Under their own budget, it says it. It's the children. That's who's going to pay for it. Right here, just go to page seven, where it authorizes up to $45 trillion in debt. We're at about $28.6 trillion right now, $45 trillion in debt. Taxes and spending [are] through the roof [and it] will hit every family in America, Madam Speaker.
“And then let's get back to those priorities. Now, you would think with the backdrop of everything that we've been dealing with in Afghanistan, as we hear in this chamber, so many of our veterans who served in Afghanistan, honorably, have been calling on the President to ensure and commit that he will get all Americans out. And yet, what is our President doing? I'll tell you what he's been doing. He's been working the phones pressuring Members of Congress this week. I wish, Madam Speaker, I could say he was pressuring Members of Congress to help get Americans out. That's not what he was doing. He was working the phones this week – pressuring Members of Congress to vote for trillions of dollars in spending a tax package.
“That's been President Biden's priority. He just said today, he's going to bow to the Taliban's deadline of August 31st even if we don't get all Americans out. President Biden should be the President of the United States – not bowing to terrorists – not bowing to anybody except committing that he'll get all Americans out instead of living by some artificial deadline. Every ounce of his energy ought to be focused between now and next Tuesday – the date he set and the date the Taliban set – every minute he ought to be spending between now and next Tuesday to get all Americans out.
“But if he fails to do it, people will look back and say, what was he doing instead? What [was] the President of United States’ priorities? He was pressuring Members of Congress to vote for this garbage – trillions of dollars in debt and spending – rather than focus on getting Americans out of harm's way that he left behind. It's a national and international disgrace.
“Our priorities ought to be with the American people. That’s who we will fight for. That's why we oppose this whole process.”
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