GOP Leaders on Biden’s First Year: ‘Worst Human Rights Record’ of Any Modern U.S. President

Several Republican congressmembers joined House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at a press conference Thursday to mark President Joe Biden’s first year in office, issuing scathing remarks on a slate of crises they said were a “direct result” of his presidency.

The opening speaker, House GOP Conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), summarized that with Democrats in control in the White House and both chambers of Congress, “America has faced a year of unprecedented crisis.”

“The American people are facing an economic crisis, an energy crisis, a border crisis, an education crisis, a crime crisis, a worsening COVID-19 crisis, and a national security crisis,” Stefanik said. “These crises are a direct result of the failed leadership and the far-left socialist agenda of Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks during a news conference with fellow House Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Consumer prices for common goods like food, furniture, clothing, and cars are up, as Breitbart News’s John Carney has reported extensively, while overall consumer prices in 2021 saw a seven percent annual increase, the largest increase in four decades. Oil prices, too, are at an eight-year high.

Border patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border apprehended approximately 1.9 million illegal migrants in 2021, while an estimated half a million “got aways” evaded apprehension and are now presumably living in the U.S. illegally and unaccounted for. “We’re in the biggest crisis we’ve ever seen as far as border security goes,” said Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol union and a Border Patrol agent of more than two decades, during an appearance on Fox News in November.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke about the border at the press conference, pointing to the fentanyl being transported into the U.S. illegally and subsequently cropping up as an issue in states across the country.

“Now every state in the nation is a border city and community because you’ve got drugs coming in across our border, and now fentanyl and other drugs killing people in every community in America, because Joe Biden not only stopped building the wall but sent a message all across the world, not just South and Central America, that our border is open,” Scalise said.

Other congressmembers spoke about K–12 students being subjected to remote learning, surging violent crime in urban areas, and rampant cases of coronavirus coupled with now two years’ worth of coronavirus mandates and ever-changing messaging from the Biden administration on when and how society will return to a state of normalcy.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), the first Green Beret to serve in Congress, tore into Biden for national security policies — such as empowering Russia by stymieing U.S. oil and gas production while condoning Russia’s new gas pipeline — and for having what Waltz described as “the worst human rights record of any modern American presidency.”

Kevin McCarthy / Facebook

Waltz cited ongoing human trafficking crimes at the U.S. border and human rights abuses in Afghanistan against women and in Xinjiang, China, against Uyghurs.

He added, “We have three years to go, but I don’t think we can realistically expect anything but more of the same … and it is a fundamentally flawed approach of America last and concessions first, and our adversaries see that as weakness and they see that as opportunity.”

The Republicans’ brutal review of the president comes as his approval ratings have been sinking across numerous polls with no sign of changing trajectory. On Wednesday, RealClearPolitics’ average of polls revealed Biden’s job approval hit 40.9 percent, a record-low for his presidency.

Write to Ashley Oliver at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.

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