Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, slammed President Joe Biden during an ABC News interview on Sunday after newly released polling shows Biden’s approval rating continuing to fall.
“Look, the American people have given this president failing grades across the board on his first quarter report card, failing because of high costs and prices, failing because of an overrun border, failing because of the tragedy and the failure in Afghanistan,” Barrasso said. “So, only one in five Americans think the country is heading in the right direction. And no matter what bill the president happens to sign tomorrow, that’s not going to change the failing grades.”
“The problem is the Democrats are now saying we want to go all in with this massive tax and spending bill, which is going to harm American families. People are going to pay higher prices. There are going to be higher taxes and, of course, we’re going to see an increase in the debt,” he continued. “So Republicans are heading in the right direction. The Democrats are full speed ahead against the ideas of what the American people want, and even Jason Furman, who was President Obama’s economic adviser, he said what they’re proposing here will add to inflation in 2022.”
WATCH:
The American people have given @POTUS failing grades across the board. Failing because of high costs and prices, failing because of an overrun border, and failing because of the tragedy in Afghanistan. Only 1 in 5 Americans think the country is headed in the right direction. pic.twitter.com/RYcg0zSPgZ
— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) November 14, 2021
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA ABC NEWS:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: Let’s get the GOP response now from the Chair of the Republican Conference, Senator John Barrasso. Senator Barrasso, thank you for joining us this morning.
You heard Brian Deese right there on the Build Back Better plan. He says it’s fully paid for; it’s going to reduce the deficit; and 17 Nobel laureates back the White House judgment that it’s not going to increase inflation.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, first, happy anniversary. I started watching with David Brinkley and continue to watch today.
And in response to what the president’s adviser said here — look, the American people have given this president failing grades across the board on his first quarter report card, failing because of high costs and prices, failing because of an overrun border, failing because of the tragedy and the failure in Afghanistan.
So, only one in five Americans think the country is heading in the right direction. And no matter what bill the president happens to sign tomorrow, that’s not going to change the failing grades.
The problem is the Democrats are now saying we want to go all in with this massive tax and spending bill, which is going to harm American families. People are going to pay higher prices. There are going to be higher taxes and, of course, we’re going to see an increase in the debt.
So Republicans are heading in the right direction. The Democrats are full speed ahead against the ideas of what the American people want, and even Jason Furman, who was President Obama’s economic adviser, he said what they’re proposing here will add to inflation in 2022.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The tax increases are almost solely to millionaires and the White House says that the Nobel laureates believe that it will not increase inflation. What evidence do you have that it will?
BARRASSO: Well, there are a couple of things, and let’s start with — this is not really just $2 trillion. I think it’s much closer to $4 trillion because what the Democrats have added in after their election losses has been tax breaks for millionaires.
This is not just me saying it. The experts are saying with what is in this bill, and Americans, the more they find out about it, the less they like it — specifically all the new IRS agents who are going to be hired, an army of IRS agents to do more audits. The experts are telling us that 30 percent of middle class Americans will end up paying higher taxes, and what Nancy Pelosi has shoved in, the special tax breaks for millionaires in California, New York, New Jersey, that is actually going to give a tax break to two-thirds of the millionaires in America.
The reason I think prices are going to go way up is because of some of the things that they have put into the bill on energy and on climate, which are going to raise energy costs considerably in the year ahead, at a time when the American people are already paying sky-high prices to heat their homes, to drive their cars, to buy groceries, and inflation as we know hurts the most vulnerable.
Who gets hurt with inflation? It’s the poor people, the people living on a fixed income. It’s the elderly. It’s all of these folks struggling to get by. I would have never believed that Joe Biden in just ten months in the presidency could bring us to a 30-year high of inflation.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about the infrastructure bill he’s going to sign into law tomorrow, bipartisan infrastructure bill. The White House has put out a fact sheet showing the benefits to your state of Wyoming. I want to show it to our audience right now.
They say $1.8 billion for highways, $225 million for bridge replacement and repairs, $100 million for broadband, $335 million for water infrastructure, and $72 million for airports.
Why did you vote against a bill that provides so many benefits to your state?
BARRASSO: Well, you know, I was one of the original negotiators at the White House with President Biden, and ultimately, I voted against it because they did use a lot of budget gimmicks and they are adding $256 billion to the debt, and some of the issues in there in terms of energy I think is going to make energy even more expensive, and I think it’s going to make the grid less reliable.
And then, of course, the big thing is they handcuffed this infrastructure bill to this big, massive tax and spending bill, which every Republican is united in our efforts to drive a stake through the heart of this effort which the Democrats are pushing because they are so addicted to taxing and spending.