Under Joe Biden’s leadership, the state of our Union is anything but strong. No matter what the topic, America is worse off now than it was the day before his 2021 inauguration.
Last night we heard this President falsely claim the economy was stronger – that’s just not true. The price of our energy – gas, diesel, home heating, and electricity – has risen far more than families can afford. This has created a level of energy poverty not seen since Jimmy Carter. It is estimated that electricity prices this winter will surge 11% higher than last winter and that natural gas, which is the primary home heating source for nearly half of America, will increase by 25%. Will it be food, medicine, or something else that these families must give up to stay warm these next few months?
When Biden took office, gas was $2.39 on average; it is now $3.49 – and that is after he irresponsibly drained our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and sold off a portion of these reserves to China. We aren’t feeling the pain of high gas prices because of the Ukraine/Russia conflict. The extreme Biden policies of blocking permits, cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, and waging war on our most important and efficient energy resources such as coal are why America has gone from being energy independent to facing an energy crisis in just two short years.
If energy policy was our only economic crisis, that would be bad enough – but wait, there’s more! We don’t need statistics or government accounting figures to know that the everyday items we are buying at the grocery store are more expensive – if we can even find the items we need. Eggs? We need a bank loan for a dozen. Baby formula? Good luck finding it. Americans might need a second job if they want to “bring home the bacon!” Combine this food insecurity (something that is unacceptable in a country with our resources, innovation, and technology) with the energy poverty Joe Biden has created and it is absolutely crushing families.
Clearly, Biden has failed on the economy, but he hasn’t fared any better on the issue of safety. Our borders are far from secure, despite the lies coming from this administration. Over 4.5 million illegal aliens have crossed our southern border since Joe Biden took office. For perspective, that is nearly eight times the population of my state – Wyoming. In addition to these unvetted illegals, drugs are pouring in as well. Enough fentanyl to kill over 2 billion people has been seized – and the argument that this signifies less fentanyl getting into the country because some is being discovered defies logic. If drug smuggling weren’t bad enough, human trafficking is also at a record high. With this massive invasion, every state is now a border state. Joe Biden and his administration are enabling the largest drug smuggling and human trafficking operation in U.S. history. Had he simply continued the border policies in place under Donald Trump, none of this would be happening.
Safety isn’t just about the border and sadly this administration is failing to keep our cities safe too. Crime has skyrocketed – since 2020, murder is up 13%, rape is up 23%, and aggravated assault is up 34% – meanwhile arrests under the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) are down 35%. We aren’t safer on the world stage either, as witnessed by his weak leadership in addressing the Chinese spy balloon, its purchase of farmland throughout the interior west and elsewhere, and its theft of intellectual property. We must determine to what extent Biden’s failure to confront and control China’s bad acts are being dictated by his son’s previous relationship with the CCP.
Finally, a crushing failure of Joe Biden is our national debt, which is now nearly $32 trillion. Under Joe Biden, debt per American taxpayer has INCREASED by $33,500 – this is unsustainable.
So, what has Joe Biden accomplished? His DOJ supported activist school boards who seek to indoctrinate our students contrary to opposition by the parents – comparing parents to domestic terrorists. He has continued to curtail our personal freedoms through a “National Covid Emergency” which should never have been put in place. His administration has conspired with Facebook, Twitter, and other big tech giants to suppress information and stifle our 1st Amendment rights. I could go on about the failures of this administration, but you get the drift.
The bottom line is that Joe Biden is living in an alternate universe when he tells us that the state of our nation is strong. Fortunately, our nation IS resilient – we will recover from the national nightmare that is Joe Biden. We started that process last November by changing the House of Representatives, now we must do the same with the Senate and the White House in two years.
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman is serving her first term as Wyoming’s at-large Member in the U.S. House of Representatives. She serves on the House Committee on the Judiciary, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Committee on Natural Resources.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.