WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News Channel’s America Reports, where he called out President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for putting their far-left agenda over the needs of American workers and families. Whip Scalise noted that Americans across the country are fleeing failed, liberal states where Democrats are pushing the radical “Defund the Police” movement and are refusing to allow students to return to the classroom for conservative states, where Republicans are pursuing commonsense policies that put workers and families first.
On House Democrats being out of touch with the American people:
“Look, people don’t want to see police defunded, and [in] every community across America, you see that. The Democrats, for whatever reason, have just gone all in on this crazy idea. But there [are] other things, too. I mean, you’ve already seen what they’re doing with opening our borders, with just continuing to kowtow to China. They won’t confront China. And [then] jobs and the economy continue to be a big issue. And frankly, when you go around the country, every small business person that you talk to says they are looking for workers, and yet what you saw in that boondoggle, the wasteful spending, the corruption, in that last spending bill had very little, over 90 percent, had nothing to do with COVID. It’s giving checks to felons in prison and all of that kind of stuff — [the] Green New Deal — that’s killing energy jobs. People are fed up with that kind of socialist agenda. We’re talking more about helping families get back on their feet, rounding the corner on COVID, getting kids back in the classroom where all the science says kids should be. But the liberals in Washington want to just continue bending down to these liberal unions that want to keep kids out of school. So, they’re disconnected in Washington from the reality, and I think that’s why Speaker [Pelosi’s] socialist agenda is out of touch with America.”
On House Democrats’ support for the “Defund the Police” movement:
“Well, Sandra, [Republicans have] always stood for safety and security, you know, both abroad and at home. And I think that’s being lost — a lot of these mayors that are letting their cities get out of control with crime because they’ve actually gone down the road of defunding police with devastating consequences. And when you see crime in a lot of these communities just getting more and more out of hand, you’re seeing people leave in droves. Look at New York. I think New York State has lost over 300,000 people in the last year because they’ve had these radical shutdowns.
“They’ve defunded police, and people are fleeing and going to states that are [being] run with much more sane, conservative leadership. Here in Florida is where we’re at, having this conference. Things are open. People are happy. People are coming down, and their economies haven’t suffered, and their students aren’t being denied the opportunity to go back to school. So, follow the science and also inject commonsense and stop going after and attacking good police [officers] and [undermining] our national security.”
On the Biden Administration’s far-left spending spree:
“Well, that’s because President Biden is governing like a drunken sailor when you talk about this spending. I mean, my God, trillions and trillions of dollars, and one bill was over $2 trillion, and this bill is going to be over $2 trillion. Who do you think is going to pay for this? And this money is being borrowed from our kids and our grandkids, from China, and for what? To pay people not to work? To give money for all these Green New Deal [kinds] of socialist ideas? They are giving checks to felons in prison, they’re giving checks to people who come across the border illegally, and hardworking people are sitting there going, ‘Wait a minute?’ They realize they’re going to be paying more in taxes. When Bernie Sanders is the Budget Chairman writing the bill on taxes, does any American out there think it’s not going to affect their pocketbook? Of course, they do. They know the price. It’s going to cost us jobs. They’re already [sending] jobs off to foreign countries. Canceling the Keystone Pipeline was a gift to China, to Russia, [and] to Saudi Arabia. What about American workers? That’s who we ought to be working and fighting for right now and those of the ones we’re picking up the tab for all this reckless, corrupt spending that we are seeing, that there’s no end in sight right now from Biden and Pelosi.”
On President Biden breaking his pledge to not raise taxes:
“Does anybody believe that their taxes aren’t going to go up? And oh, by the way, President Biden has broken his original pledge because he said it was going to be $400,000 a [person]. Now it’s going to be $400,000 a [family]. And we know that’s not even going to hold because their spending just keeps [going up] more and more. They are doubling and tripling the amount of money they are borrowing and spending and all on things that have nothing to do with infrastructure.
“You look at the latest infrastructure plan, more than 75 percent of that has nothing to do with roads and bridges and broadband and ports. So again, it begs the question: What are they spending that money on? And of course, you look at the details – it’s the Green New Deal. We will have a higher [corporate] tax rate than communist China in America if Biden and Pelosi get their way, and that means we [will] have [fewer] jobs for entry-level workers, the middle-class that President Trump was bringing back when he cut taxes, those jobs will all start going away again.
“I don’t think that’s what America bargained for when Joe Biden ran, and ultimately when you look at how they are governing, [it’s] in a very far-left, socialist way. America is still a center-right nation. We don’t want to see socialism come to our front door.”