Speaker Johnson: The State of the Union is in Decline

March 6, 2024

Contact: Taylor Haulsee

WASHNGTON — Speaker Johnson spoke at a press conference with his House Republican colleagues ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Thursday night.

Click here to watch to the Speaker’s full remarks

Read Speaker Johnson’s remarks below:

“Tomorrow, the American people as you know, are going to hear from President Biden about the State of the Union. And I’ve been asked many times, as many of us have, ‘If you had to describe in one word what do you believe the State of the Union is?’

“You’ve heard the word ‘crisis,’ you’ve heard ‘catastrophe.’ I think maybe a summary is ‘decline.’ And I say that with great sadness. We all do.

“But it’s because of this President and his administration that we are indisputably in decline. Our economic strength is in decline, everyday goods are more expensive. People can barely afford the cost of living now –their groceries and gasoline. Homeownership is increasingly out of reach, and US household debt is at an all-time high. Our economic strength is in decline.

“American sovereignty is in decline. You’ve heard us lament the border. The southern border is a total catastrophe – there’s no other way to describe that.

“Traffickers and cartels have taken operational control of the border. Fentanyl poisoning is killing our children. While President Biden opened the border with his reckless executive actions. And remember, we documented at least 64 actions that he and his agencies have taken that open up border wide. It was by design.

“In the midst of all that, we also learned last week, he never one time spoke to the chief of the Border Patrol. It’s unconscionable.

“Innocent Americans, from Laken Riley in Georgia to the 14-year-old rape victim of an illegal immigrant in our home state of Louisiana, as you just heard Leader Scalise talk about –they’ve all been victimized by those whom the Biden Administration has released into our country. He is releasing them into your state. Every state is a border state.

“The safety of our cities is in decline. Carjackings are up. Attacks against law enforcement are rising. We have more than 600,000 known criminal aliens roaming the streets of America right now, free to reoffend and victimize Americans. The actual number is of course much higher. That’s the official number that we know about. But we don’t know how many people have come across the border. And some of us believe it may be as many as 15 million illegal aliens who have come across that border since Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office three years ago.

“America’s presence on the world stage is in decline and you’ve heard us talk about that this morning as well. Iran, Russia, China—our adversaries are acting more provocatively than they have in many, many years, and we have unrest unlike we’ve seen since World War Two.

“The President is turning his back, right now, on our greatest ally, Israel. And after Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, our stature has been diminished to a point that is difficult to calculate.

“During his address, President Biden is going to try to suggest that the State of the Union is strong, and we expect, as was said, that he’s going to say this is a time for reset. But of course, the State of the Union is not strong, and everybody around the country knows it, and everybody in this room knows it.

“It doesn’t matter what political party you’re in, or where you lean on the political spectrum, you look at objective facts and you know, this country is not in good shape because of thisleadership in the White House.

“And that’s why at this point in his term, President Biden is the least popular president in modern history.

“America is in decline. Nothing he says tomorrow night is going to change that house. Republicans, on the other hand, will continue to fight to hold Biden and his administration accountable. That is our constitutional duty – our responsibility – and we will fulfill it and we are committed to saving this republic. And that will happen in November when the American people let their voices be heard.”

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