In the Republican response to President Joe Biden's address to a joint session of Congress, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., rebuked the president's divisive agenda on taxes, spending, and race.
"A hundred years ago, kids in the classroom were taught the color of their skin were their most important characteristic," Scott said Wednesday night. "Today, kids are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again, and if you look a certain way, they're an oppressor.
"People are making money and gaining power by pretending we have not made any progress at all – by doubling down on the divisions we worked so hard to heal.
"You know this stuff is wrong. America is not a racist country. It is wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates."
Scott took a pointed shot at President Biden's hypocrisy in characterizing the Senate filibuster as a "Jim Crow relic."
"The same filibuster that President Obama and President Biden praised when they were senators, the same filibuster that the Democrats used to kill my police reform bill last year had not become a racist relic just because the shoe now is on the other foot," Scott rejected. "Race is no a political weapon to sell every issue. It is far too important."
Scott also said President Biden is failing in his inaugural goal of unity.
"A president who promised to bring us together should not be pushing agendas that tear us apart," Scott said. "The American family deserves better. We know what better looks like."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., added in a statement Wednesday night, Biden's plans for more spending are as doomed as Scott said Biden's call for unity ultimately has been.
"Tonight, President Biden promised the nation higher taxes, crushing debt, and open borders," Cotton's statement read. "His radical agenda is dead on arrival."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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