alise: Time for President Biden to Get Off the Sidelines

Press Release

Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on ABC's This Week to discuss H.R. 2811, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which House Republicans passed last week to reduce wasteful government spending and restore fiscal sanity in Washington. Leader Scalise slammed the President for his attempt to create a debt ceiling crisis. Leader Scalise also discussed the Biden Administration's open-border policies and chronically high costs driven by reckless spending, and what Republicans are doing to address those problems for American families.

Click here or on the image above to view Leader Scalise's remarks.

Highlights from the interview:
On the debt limit:

"I think most Americans recognize that as we're addressing the debt limit, we also have to address the problem that got us here. Look, President Biden maxed out America's credit card by spending trillions of dollars over the last two years. What Republicans said is, "We're willing to work with the President on addressing that, but let's also address the spending that got us here too.' And what we put in the bill are very basic, commonsense things like, "Let's have some work requirements for able-bodied people who want to get welfare benefits -- shouldn't they at least be looking for work when everybody is looking for workers?' You've got millions of people being paid not to work.

"We talk about protecting veterans. We've heard this lie over and over again. The Speaker himself has said, "We're protecting veterans.' Mike Bost, the Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, is a veteran himself. The only person talking about cutting veterans' benefits is [President] Biden. And I'll tell you, as the Majority Leader, I will not bring the bill to the Floor of the House, even if President Biden wants it. I will not bring a bill that cuts our veterans.

"So let's talk about how we can get our economy back moving again. We put some really good items in this bill, by the way, that cuts red tape so we could promote American energy production that would actually help families who are struggling because families are paying a lot more -- 40 percent in most places -- more for household electricity. 50 percent more at the pump because of [President] Biden's anti-American energy policies. We fix that too in this bill.

"The White House needs to ultimately get into this negotiation. The President's been in hiding for two months, Martha -- that's not acceptable to Americans. They expect the President to sit in a room with Speaker McCarthy and start negotiating -- not hiding [and] not waiting and trying to get a debt crisis."

On alleged cuts to veterans in the Limit, Save, Grow Act:

"Well, we've seen the Secretary of the [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] trying to scare people and put on things that they know are completely false. Show me where in the bill where it says any of those things. It doesn't. And the President knows that, Martha. The President doesn't want to talk about what's in the bill, because ultimately, we do things like reclaim unspent COVID money -- there's tens of billions of dollars of money floating around for COVID when President Biden himself had said, "COVID is over.' Why don't we get that money back to the taxpayers? Again, pro-growth policies to cut red tape to help Americans with things like inflation, like their energy costs that are out of control because of President Biden's agenda."

On defaulting on America's debt:

"We just passed a bill that actually addresses the debt ceiling and, for all that we hear from our Senate friends Martha, they've yet to pass anything. If they've got a better idea, I want to see that bill and tell them to pass it through the Senate. We just passed a bill through the House, and we've been very vocal. It's been over two months since President Biden has sat down with Speaker McCarthy to have negotiations. President Biden is clearly trying to run out the clock and create a debt crisis. That's irresponsible. Republicans at least said, "If the President is going to sit this one out, we're not. We're going to lead.'

"We passed a bill to address the problem. It's time now for the President to get in this game. Get off the sidelines, and let's start negotiating and figuring this out. Not in June, when we get to the midnight hour, but today. We have a lot of time to get this done, but we can't wait another two months like President Biden has done."

On the southern border:

"Ultimately, I enjoy working with my colleagues and we've had a lot of those working relationships just in the last few days to pass a major bill dealing with the debt ceiling and put together a border security package. Just two days ago, I rolled out a major border security package with Chairman Jim Jordan, Chairman Mark Green and Chairman Mike McCaul that involved work from dozens of our members to secure America's border because [President] Biden opened that up, creating massive, massive problems, so I am focused on fixing problems for those hardworking families."

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