WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News Channel’s America Reports this afternoon to discuss how Democrats’ vote to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress was nothing more than partisan theatrics designed to distract from the many crises facing the country under Democrat-controlled government. Whip Scalise emphasized that Speaker Pelosi made the January 6th Select Committee a biased entity from the beginning when she took the unprecedented step of rejecting Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Congressman Jim Banks (R-Ind.) from serving on the committee.
Whip Scalise also slammed Congressional Democrats for prioritizing their multi-trillion-dollar tax-and-spending spree instead of introducing bills that would address the inflation crisis, supply chain crisis, and border crisis, which are all hurting American families. In addition, Whip Scalise called out President Biden for using his Department of Justice to target parents who are pushing back at school board meetings against the radical, far-left curriculum being taught to their children.
On Speaker Pelosi’s partisan January 6th Commission:
“If you start with the creation of this commission, it was very clear from the beginning that Speaker Pelosi wanted this to be a very partisan entity. In fact, she went to the extreme length of rejecting the picks that our Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, made to be on the committee. So, they really undermined their credibility from day one, and then it just continued to be a witch hunt, just trying to meander around and look for things to keep going after [President] Trump.
“They don’t want to deal with the things that are facing everyday Americans. This week, we don’t have a single vote on the House Floor to deal with the inflation that’s crippling American families, that’s taking money out of their pocketbooks, gas prices that are higher, the port shortages where you’re seeing a supply chain disruption, [and] the border crisis. They’re not bringing a bill on any of that. They want to keep going after [President] Trump every single day because they don’t want people to be paying attention to the devastating things that their policies are doing to families at home. And frankly, that’s [why] you’re seeing people revolt against [this] all across the country.”
On the Biden Department of Justice equating concerned parents at school board meetings to domestic terrorists:
“The problem is he can’t reconcile the two because, at the end of the day, it’s very clear that what the Department of Justice was trying to do is do the bidding through the White House of these union bosses. Union bosses do not want parents getting involved in the education decisions being made at the local school board level. Look, local school boards are the basic form of government at its closest level where parents can go to school board meetings, and by the way, they are going to school board meetings, and they’re livid with things like ‘Critical Race Theory’ being taught. They’re livid that some of these unions wanted to keep the schools closed down when all the science said [to] keep the kids in school.
“And so, the union bosses, instead of trying to defend their ridiculous positions, they tried to get the Justice Department to scare and bully and intimidate parents from actually going to exercise their First Amendment rights. The Department of Justice should have rejected this influence peddling from the White House where the White House wanted to get the Department of Justice to do the bidding of the union bosses, and instead, they sent that memo out, and they ultimately tried to [frighten], shock, and scare parents from participating in school board meetings. And by the way, it hasn’t worked because I think more parents are engaged than ever before in decisions [with] some of these school boards, where they are trying to undermine the education of our young children.”
On Democrats squandering their chances in the Virginia gubernatorial election:
“Talk about an abuse of power and think of the contrast. Right now, at our southern border, there are thousands of people coming across illegally. This question was asked to [U.S. Attorney General] Merrick Garland multiple times today. [He] acted like he didn’t know what the numbers were. He surely should know. But we have people on the Terrorist Watch List that have actually been stopped crossing our border. How many? We can’t even get that answer. That’s how many people on the Terrorist Watch List have crossed our border illegally. That’s where they should be focused, not going after parents who care about their kids’ education, for goodness sake.
“And so, clearly, this is a huge issue in the Virginia governor’s race. You’re seeing [Governor] McAuliffe trying to backtrack after he flat out said he doesn’t think parents should be involved in their kids’ school decisions. Of course, they’re going to be involved. To the point where this is probably going to be one of the reasons that they elect [Glenn] Youngkin as the governor because [Glenn] Youngkin has been very vocal that he wants parents to have that role as the First Amendment ensures them to have. The government should not be trying to bully parents from caring about their kid’s education, and the parents aren’t going to be bullied by the way.”
On House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler refusing to play a video showing frustrated parents at local school board meetings:
“This really underscores, not just what [House Judiciary Committee Chairman] Jerry Nadler and people on the left are trying to do, but what’s going on in some of these school boards where they’re trying to silence parents, and [House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member] Jim Jordan has been a great voice for those parents, and the video would have shown that. Frankly, I think they probably gave more attention to the point Jim Jordan’s trying to make by trying to censor the video because, ultimately, I think a lot more people are going to see it now.
“And look, we’re seeing this across the country already. Parents are showing up in record numbers at school board meetings, as they should be. If school boards are making decisions that go against the wishes of those children. Millions of children have had a year of their life taken away by horrible decisions at some of these local levels who are catering to union bosses, and so shining a light on it is important. Showing the video of those parents is something we all should be wanting to see. The fact that Chairman Nadler wants to censor it shows you they don’t want people to see it, but people are seeing it. Jim Jordan is highlighting a point that so many people are already very well aware of. Now, maybe more people will be aware of it because of this.”
On President Biden and Congressional Democrats’ reckless, multi-trillion-dollar tax-and-spending spree:
“Yeah, there are a lot of budget gimmicks that they’re trying to play, and the American people aren’t going to be fooled by this. They are trying to [hide the real cost of this bill] from the American people. Everybody knows – whether it’s $1 trillion dollars – imagine what $1 trillion dollars in new taxes and spending would mean to families who are already facing high inflation and lower wages. They would be hit even harder with this bill.
“There’s an energy tax on natural gas in this bill. There [are] 83,000 more IRS agents – not a total of 83,000 IRS agents. They add 83,000 IRS agents, and then the Biden Administration wants to look into every financial transaction you make. If you make over $10,000 a year, they’re going to be able to look at every one of your financial transactions if they get their way with 83,000 IRS agents. That’s not economic development. That’s not infrastructure. That’s a frightening big government socialist push that people don’t want, and it’s why they don’t have the votes. I think there’s a real chance they still won’t get the votes because people have had enough. They’re already paying too much for the cost of this Biden agenda at the pump. When they pay at the grocery store, if they try to get an appliance, they’re going to wait six months and pay 30 percent more. They don’t want trillions more in big government socialism.”