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Cole Reacts to President Biden’s Joint Congressional Address

April 28, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after President Joe Biden delivered an address before a joint session of Congress and outlined his "American Families Plan." Cole attended the event in person.

"It is always an honor to listen to any president speak to Congress in person," said Cole. "And I was certainly pleased to be part of President Biden's official escort into the House chamber."

"However, the proposal the president put before Congress and the American people tonight spends too much, taxes too much and is likely to undercut the current economic recovery that began in the third quarter of last year.

"Since taking office less than a hundred days ago, President Biden has proposed more than $10 trillion in federal spending – a $4.5 trillion annual budget, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, a $2.3 trillion infrastructure program and now a $1.9 trillion expansion of America's social safety net.

"Collectively, these programs represent an unprecedented expansion of the size, scope and cost of government in an era of relative peace and prosperity. President Biden's expensive proposals would transform America from a free market economy, based on hard work and individual initiative, into a European style social welfare state, replete with high taxes, reams of regulations and a suffocating bureaucracy to regulate our lives and harass hardworking taxpayers.

"To pay for this extraordinary expansion of government, President Biden has proposed the greatest increase in taxes in modern history. He has sought to make this acceptable by triggering class conflict on an unprecedented scale. He seeks to persuade the American people that they can have unlimited government services at someone else's expense. Fortunately, Americans are smarter than that. They know there is no free lunch.

"To say that the president has overreached during his first weeks in office would be a gross understatement. But he has sparked an historic debate over the appropriate scope and size of government as well as the amount of taxes it will consume to provide the services that its proponents claim it will provide. I expect that debate to play out in the halls of Congress and on the campaign trail in the weeks and months ahead. And in the end, I believe my fellow advocates of smaller government, lower taxes, fiscal sanity and economic growth will prevail," concluded Cole.