GOP Senator Issues Challenge to Biden After President Blasts Republicans’ Economic Plan in Speech

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 28, 2021. Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images

Republican lawmakers responded in a flurry of tweets to President Joe Biden’s speech on May 10 on inflation, in which the president cast himself as the ally of struggling American families and repeatedly took jabs at the GOP leadership in Congress, saying they plan on making things even tougher on working people.

Biden’s Argument

The Consumer Price Index rose 1.2 percent in March, and has risen 8.5 percent overall during the past year. But in his hour-long address, Biden defended his heavy spending on infrastructure and his push to make wealthy individuals and corporations “pay their fair share.” Biden said that his policies foster competition among companies of many different profiles in numerous sectors, from internet servicing to meat processing.

“We’re helping smaller companies get into the game to compete and help bring down the overall prices. The bottom line is, easing these bottlenecks, and making our supply chains more secure, is a major focus of my economic strategy, so things move more quickly, prices go down, not up,” the president said.

“Some parts of my plan I’ve been able to get done on my own, without congressional approval. Some parts are being held up by Congress. But all of my plan is focused on lowering costs for the average family in America, to give them just a little bit of breathing room,” he continued.

President Joe Biden speaks about inflation and the economy in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus May 10, 2022, in Washington. Biden stated that tackling the rising prices is his top domestic priority and accused Republicans of not having a plan to fight inflation. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In the course of his speech, Biden repeatedly attacked what he called the “MAGA wing” of the Republican Party’s economic plans and proposals, and he singled out Sen. Rick Scott of Florida for criticism, misidentifying the senator’s state as Wisconsin.

Biden remarked, “What’s the Congressional Republican plan? They don’t want to solve inflation by lowering your costs. They want to solve it by raising your taxes and lowering your income. I happen to think it’s a good thing when American families have a little more money in their pockets at the end of the month, but the Republicans in Congress don’t seem to think so. Their plan has actually made working families, is going to make working families poorer.”

“They’ve made their intentions perfectly clear. Senator Rick Scott of Wisconsin [sic], a member of the Senate Republican leadership, laid it all out in a plan. It’s the ultra MAGA agenda. Their plan is to raise taxes on 75 million American families, over 95 percent of whom make less than $100,000 a year total income. The average tax increase will be about $1,500 per family. They’ve got it backwards, in my view.”

GOP Hit Back

One of the most outspoken critics of the president’s speech is Scott, who sent out a tweet in the afternoon stating, “@Joe Biden has ZERO ideas to fix the inflation crisis he’s created. He just hides in the White House, blames others & lies.”

The senator included a link to a press release from his own office conveying a challenge to the president to engage the senator directly in a debate over economic policy.

“Today, following Joe Biden’s speech bizarrely blaming Senator Rick Scott and Republicans for Biden’s record-breaking inflation, Senator Scott is inviting the president to come to Florida for a debate on inflation and Biden’s disastrous economic agenda,” the release states.

Scott is the author of a policy booklet entitled “An 11-Point Plan to Save America.” Among its economic provisions is a proposal to institute a federal minimum income tax. “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax,” the booklet states. Liberal Democrats have derided the plan and even some Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have come out against it. Americans for Tax Reform has argued that conservatives should oppose the plan, calling it “a terrible idea.”

In introducing his plan, Scott fully anticipated that not only Democrats but even some of his Republican colleagues would not like it. “I‘ll warn you; this plan is not for the faint of heart. It will be ridiculed by the ’woke' left, mocked by Washington insiders, and strike fear in the heart of some Republicans. At least I hope so,” he wrote.

After Biden’s speech, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent out a tweet quoting a reporter from the Washington Free Beacon asking the president, “Have you ever thought of your administration asking Americans to drive less and take public transport?” and the president’s reply: “They don’t have that many options in terms of transportation around the country right now. If you live in the northeast corridor, you do.”

Cruz included his own comment: “He’s really, really close to echoing Jimmy Carter and telling us to just ‘put on a sweater.’”

Other lawmakers blasted what they saw as Biden’s tendency to try to deflect blame for the state of the economy and demonize the opposition.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) also sent out a tweet saying, “Add Republicans to the long list of people Biden thinks are responsible for inflation. He’s willing to point the finger at anything and anyone but himself.”

And Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said in a tweet, “At the end of the day, the only thing that can reel in inflation is sound economic policy and kitchen-table budgeting. Inflation will continue rising until the administration lives within its means.”

The offices of Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Blackburn, and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) had not replied to a request for comment as of press time.