President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, according to Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, will focus on a “litany of issues” that will “change the way people live their lives on a day-to-day basis.”
Blackburn, of Tennessee, slammed Biden’s executive orders and “lack of leadership” in his first 100 days in an exclusive interview with Fox News.
“I think he is going to go out there and act like everybody agrees with him, and that if you don’t, something’s wrong with you,” she predicted. “That, I believe, is the tone in which he will speak. This is a foregone conclusion; this is his agenda, which he will push forward, and you should enjoy it.”
Blackburn predicted that Biden would “push left” on social issues.
“He virtue signals, and the Democratic Party virtue signals, through these executive orders,” Blackburn said. “Now he is going to pivot, and is going to talk about things like mandatory pre-K, incentivizing teachers in elementary and high school to teach certain things, the need for free junior college, forgiving student loan debt.”
Biden’s policies, according to Blackburn, will “really have government take the leading role in the family, as opposed to having the family make their decisions.”
The American Families Plan, which would be in addition to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed in March, is expected to be announced by Biden during his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday night.
According to a senior Biden administration official, the plan calls for at least four years of free public education for every child, as well as universal preschool for all children aged three and four.
All Americans will be able to attend two years of free community college under the plan.
“If the government is going to pay for your education, they can tell you what you’re going to study, as I always say. If they are going to be able to pay for your health care, they will tell you what that health care will be “According to Fox News, Blackburn said. “So I think, for the left, he will roll out that litany of issues that change the way people live their lives on a day-to-day basis.”
The cost of the universal pre-school program is estimated to be around $200 billion, while the cost of free community college is estimated to be around $109 billion, according to the administration. Dreamers would also be eligible for free community college education and access to Pell Grants, which would be increased by $1,400 under the plan.
The bill will provide new funding for historically Black colleges and put a renewed emphasis on teacher education in the United States.
The American Jobs Plan will focus on the country’s physical infrastructure and the creation of millions of jobs, according to the administration, while the American Families Plan will invest in young Americans and help families cover basic expenses.
According to the administration, the plan will ensure that qualifying families do not spend more than 7% of their income on child care and will provide nutrition assistance to combat childhood hunger. According to the administration, the lack of child care costs the US economy about $57 billion in earnings each year.
Some of these families, according to senior administration officials, could benefit from additional tax breaks such as child tax credits, earned income tax credits, and child and dependent care tax credits. The credits are already in the American Rescue Plan and would be expanded under the new bill; credits, according to the administration, have been shown to improve students’ academic performance.
A national paid-leave program would also be established under the legislation.
Blackburn, on the other hand, slammed Biden’s proposals, comparing them to former President Barack Obama’s “Life of Julia” campaign tool from 2012. Julia was a fictional woman who relied on the federal government for support throughout her life. At the time, the tool was “ridiculed” according to Blackburn.
“They’re basically putting ‘Life of Julia’ on the books with mandatory pre-K,” Blackburn said, “and then supplanting the need for mom and dad, husband and wife, and a family.” “This is something that is saying we applaud the ‘Life of Julia’ and her reliance on the federal government to meet her needs and the needs of her child.”
“there is no recognition that there is actually a family supporting this child.” Blackburn added under this type of policy.
“It is all about the federal government that is the center of this,” Blackburn said, adding that “the majority of the country does not believe in this.”
“This is part of [Biden’s] vision of how America could work,” she continued, “and in his speech, Biden is likely to lay out some of these provisions that would make the government central to your life, rather than your family, your freedom, your faith, or your value system.”
Meanwhile, Blackburn went on to criticize Biden for taking so many executive actions in his first 100 days in office.
Biden has signed dozens of executive orders and taken dozens of executive actions since taking office, many of which are reversals of former President Trump’s policies and directives, such as re-engaging with the World Health Organization, restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and restoring the Paris Climate Agreement.
“He is choosing to supplant legislation by doing these executive orders, and really kind of using it almost as a threat — if you don’t do this, I’m going to do it this way,” she said.
“They know their policies are so unpopular with the American people,” Blackburn continued, “that they would not stand up to scrutiny trying to go through the legislative process because it’s not what people want.” “They know there is an incredible amount of buyer’s remorse among the American people.”
However, Blackburn believes that the Biden administration and Democrats are “trying to push issues like packing the court and D.C. statehood, and federalizing elections before 2022, because they see that as the only hope they have to be a permanent majority.”
Biden’s “lack of leadership” during his first 100 days in office, according to Blackburn, has surprised her the most.
“You know someone is calling the shots, and it does not appear to be him,” she explained.
