Strong: ‘I approve this message’

“Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families.” 

— White House tweet, July 17

On July 15, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., spoke to a group of young conservatives. She was attempting to explain how President Joe Biden is ruining our country. Here’s her description of his evil plan.

“The Great Society were big government programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and welfare, the Office of Economic Opportunity and big labor and labor unions. Now LBJ had the Great Society but Joe Biden had Build Back Better and he still is working on it. The largest public investment and social infrastructure and environmental programs that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete. Socialism.” (Politifact, July 20)

Greene was trying to illustrate all the terrible things Biden is doing. Think how those programs help regular hardworking Americans. Then remember that for four years, former President Donald Trump promised many things, including a major infrastructure program. It never happened. “Infrastructure week” became a running joke.

In contrast, Biden had his major infrastructure plan proposed, voted on, and signed into law less than 18 months after taking office. We in Nevada are benefiting hugely from that program, getting roads repaired and broadband installed in remote areas.

“Just last month, Nevada received more than $416 million to expand access to high-speed internet across our state.” (Reno Gazette Journal, July 23)

Biden has done much more, including bringing inflation down and improving our economy. The U.S. has the highest GDP ($25.463 trillion) and the lowest inflation rate (2.97 percent) of the G7 nations. This is thanks to Biden’s economic policies, which also include creating over 12 million new jobs in two years.

In the meantime, what have Republicans proposed to make life better for average Americans? Here is just part of Greene’s list of House Republican priorities.

1. Take away the pensions of Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; James Comey, former head of the F.B.I; and John Brennan, former head of the C.I.A. Their crimes? Not bowing down enough to Trump. For that, Republicans believe these men, who served the American public for decades, should lose the pensions they earned. That will certainly improve our lives, won’t it?

2. Terminate all government funded COVID vaccine programs. What’s strange about this is that it was Trump who pushed “Operation Warp Speed,” a program to “facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.” (Wikipedia)

Because of the rapid development and distribution of the COVID vaccines, millions of lives around the world were saved. And COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic that occurs. There’s always another one around the corner. Shutting down vaccine programs will leave us unprepared when the next pandemic hits. Are Republicans really so anxious for more Americans to die?

3. Disband the 87,000 IRS army (Greene’s words). Last August, “Democratic lawmakers gave the IRS $80 billion in new funding over the course of a decade. The money was appropriated for enforcement, customer service, operations upgrades and oversight…This week, the IRS announced it had finally cleared the backlog of millions of unprocessed returns accumulated over the previous several years.”

The agency was also able to answer literally millions more phone calls this year than it did last year, and cut down its obscenely long waiting times on calls (to four minutes, down from 27). “(These) triumphs were... the result of finally getting more resources.” (Washington Post, April 20)

Republicans have claimed that the 87,000 new employees would be armed agents, ready to kick down the doors of ordinary Americans. In reality, the new employees will replace employees who are retiring and restore staff lost to extreme cuts over the last several years.

Republicans oppose this because the increased staffing means that the wealthiest Americans will get audited. Already, millions of dollars in tax revenues which would have gone unpaid have been collected. Increasing government revenues without raising taxes? Can’t have that, can we?

Republicans have many more plans to punish those they disagree with, while proposing nothing to actually help Americans. In the meantime, Democrats enact policies which help us now.

Greene did a fine job of summarizing Biden’s many accomplishments. Instead of being intimidated by her speech, Biden’s team posted it on the president's Twitter account on July 18, with the caption “I approve this message.”

Jeanette Strong, whose column appears every other week, is a Nevada Press Association award-winning columnist. She may be reached at news@lahontanvalleynews.com.