Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the former chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Monday that House Republicans should cancel President Joe Biden's State of the Union address next month.
Perry, who sits on the House Committee for Oversight and Accoutability, told Fox Business that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., should "use every single point of leverage" to put pressure on Biden over the border.
He added the president "comes at the invitation of Congress" for the State of the Union speech, "and Republicans are in control of the House. There's no reason that we need to invite him to get more propaganda and actually blame the American people for the crisis he's caused."
Perry's comments came soon after House Republicans rejected a bipartisan Senate plan to address the border that had been endorsed by Biden following criticism from former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
Perry had said Biden isn't "competent" to serve as president.
"It's abusive … what's being done, using him to be the president," he said earlier this month, according to The Hill. "And I don't know that he's making many decisions. There's a lot of people around him that I fear are making the decisions."
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, made a similar call to cancel the speech.
"If the president is going to be allowed the opportunity to address Congress and the entire nation, he should actually have a plan in place," she said in a statement.
"At a time when Americans are facing skyrocketing inflation and the world is on fire, we deserve more than just empty rhetoric. That's why, before he delivers his State of the Union, I'm calling on President Biden to put in the work and submit his budget and National Security Strategy."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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