Q: What’s your takeaway from the State of the Union address?
 
A: President Biden missed an opportunity to address what’s on the top of mind for Iowans: tackling inflation and bringing down costs for everyday goods, including groceries, gas and utilities. Too many households are living paycheck to paycheck. Americans feel worse off today than when the president took office. That’s because higher prices are wiping out wage gains, making it harder for families to make ends meet and forcing many to dip into savings to pay the bills. Instead of tackling sky-high inflation, the Biden administration doubled down on more spending. Don’t forget in the last Congress, it went on a partisan $3 trillion spending binge – chasing nearly $4 trillion in pandemic relief already in the pipeline from 2020. This cavalier spending spree fueled the fires of inflation. Now, with interest rates on the rise, borrowing costs are ramping up on the federal debt. Every dollar needed to finance the $31 trillion debt is one less dollar available for tax cuts, farm programs, and benefits for veterans and seniors. What’s more, when the government borrows money, it drives up borrowing costs for credit card holders, small businesses, car owners and homeowners.
 
My advice to President Biden: When you’re in a hole, quit digging. Until we get our fiscal house in order, the national debt will loom large over America’s prosperity and national security. The $31 trillion debt is more than 100 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. That amounts to nearly $94,000 for every man, woman and child in America. Washington’s insatiable appetite for spending needs to stop and President Biden ought to be leading the charge for fiscal discipline instead of fearmongering about the insolvency facing Social Security and Medicare. Instead, he continues to level disingenuous partisan attacks to scare Americans. So much for his pledge to heal the “soul of the nation.” Thanks to President Biden, America is as polarized as ever.
 
Q: What did you want to hear in the speech?
 
A: Article II of the Constitution says the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.” For one hour and 13 minutes, President Biden touted a laundry list of government programs, seeking to pat his administration on the back while glossing over problems he helped create, such as the crisis at the southern border and energy dependence.
 
On Biden’s watch, there have been a record-high 4.6 million encounters with illegal border crossers, and drug cartels and human traffickers are taking advantage of our porous southern border. Illicit fentanyl produced in Mexico is flooding into local communities. Fentanyl poisoning is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45. While the rule of law is ignored at our southern border, crime is on the rise in communities across the country, including organized retail crime that is robbing stores blind and financing violent criminal activity.
 
In an ironic admission that America will need fossil fuels “for at least another decade and beyond,” the president won’t reverse his policies that destroyed U.S. energy independence needed to regain America’s competitive advantage. Instead, the Biden administration is pushing the Green New Deal agenda and proposing federal rules that would inject politics into retirement savings by putting social and environmental goals ahead of securing the best return on workers’ lifetime savings.
 
The president’s speech exposed a widening disconnect between his administration and what the American people expect of the commander-in-chief. The number one priority of the federal government is to uphold national security and keep the American people safe. And yet, the president made only the most vague reference to China’s brazen waltz across U.S. airspace. The Communist-led nation mocked American sovereignty by sailing a spy balloon across the interior of the United States before the Biden administration shot it down over the ocean.
 

During the 118th Congress, I’ll continue working to knock common sense into Washington nonsense and build support for policies important to Iowa, such as passage of the new farm bill. I’ll also keep working across the aisle to cut prescription drug prices so that families can afford their lifesaving medicines. At the end of his address to Congress, the president said the “State of the Union is strong.” But it’s arguably not as strong as ever. This administration needs to get serious about our foreign adversaries, border security, fiscal discipline, economic growth and energy independence. America’s reign as the world’s mightiest economic and military power cannot be taken for granted.