President Joe Biden marked his first 100 days in office by giving his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday. His remarks were met with mixed reviews from Pennsylvania politicians.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., indicated that Biden is focused on a Democratic agenda, while U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Gov. Tom Wolf praised Biden’s planned improvements.
Casey lauded Biden’s response to the pandemic and talked about the positive impact he believes his American Jobs Plan will have on families.
“In addition to continuing our work to defeat COVID-19, Congress has an obligation pass the American Jobs Plan in order to rebuild our roads and bridges, invest in high-speed broadband for all Americans and ensure that seniors, individuals with disabilities and workers benefit from a historic investment in home and community-based services, especially to help the more than 16,000 Pennsylvanians on waiting lists,” Casey stated.
The legislator said Biden’s American Families Plan would provide economic security to families.
“It includes a priority that I have worked on since I began serving in the U.S. Senate- investments in early learning and universal Pre-K,” Casey explained. “Early learning investments are essential to giving children a strong, smart start to their lives. When a child learns more earlier in life, they earn more later in our workforce.”
In contrast, Toomey criticized Biden, saying that the president is “stonewalling” Republican ideas; however, Toomey agrees with some aspects of Biden’s plans, such as the need for infrastructure improvements.
“At his Inauguration, President Biden called for national unity while stressing that he would be a president for all Americans — not just those who supported him. To date, these words have rung hollow,” he said. “The Biden White House has focused most of its energy on forcing through aspects of the left-wing wish list, either by executive order or partisan legislation, while stonewalling most Republican ideas and input.”
Toomey said that Wednesday night’s “announcement of a new, dramatic, and costly expansion of the welfare state — paid for by massive tax increases — is yet another example of this hyper-partisan approach that the Biden administration has deployed since January.”
He hopes lawmakers can work with the president on issues that they agree are important.
“I do not expect to agree with President Biden on most policy issues. But there are areas we can work together, including rebuilding our roads and bridges, expanding firearm background checks, and forging new free trade agreements,” Toomey explained. “I have made this clear to the president and his team and I hope he will take me and other Republicans who have done the same up on our offers.”
Thompson took a brief stab at the president Wednesday on Twitter, indicating that he feels Biden is not compromising with Republicans.
“On Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden promised unity. Yet 100 days into his presidency he continues to advance a far left, progressive agenda,” Thompson wrote.
Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf lauded Biden’s ideas in the American Families Plan.
He said, “The American Families Plan will break down barriers to success for low- and middle-income families. It will make crucial investments in the American people and pave the way for a sustained and equitable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Wolf said the plan will build on work his administration has done in Pennsylvania’s education system.
The governor added, “The American Families Plan also calls for major investments that will help families thrive, including through providing high-quality child care at a price families can actually afford, establishing a paid family and medical leave program so all workers have access to sick days and paid leave, and improving access to healthy, nutritious food for children and families.”
Wolf believes the plan will help low- and middle-income Pennsylvanians.
“Much like my budget plan for Pennsylvania this year, the American Families Plan makes these crucial investments at the same time that it extends and expands tax cuts for low- and middle-income individuals and families, by implementing tax reform to close existing loopholes and ensure that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share,” he explained.
