Republicans are already moving to try to muddy President Joe Biden's message before he delivers his address to a joint meeting of Congress – saying his plans to raise taxes and fund social programs constitute a 'radical' agenda that will nevertheless be 'boring' as evening television fare Wednesday night.
Republican Senator Tim Scott will make carry his party's banner when he delivers the official Republican response to Biden's plans, and will cast it as a path to misery for working Americans.
The Senate's lone black Republican will be aided by a group of GOP officials who are polishing up their reaction to the speech in advance, and who plan to describe Biden's plans to to hike taxes to spend billions on community college tuition, paid leave and child care as 'socialism.'
The newest field for political combat will be Biden's plans for capital gains hike taxes, corporate tax hikes, and a boost in IRS enforcement to fund infrastructure and social programs. Republicans are already tagging it as 'redistribution' and calling it a radical platform tantamount to 'socialism.'
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) plans to slam President Joe Biden's plans as a path to misery when he delivers the Republican response to Biden's speech to a joint meeting of Congress. He is the lead Republican negotiator on police reform legislation
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, in an opinion article in advance of Biden's speech, tried to both raise alarms about Biden's agenda while discouraging people from tuning in. 'In fact, let me save you an hour of your time this evening and sum up Biden's speech in three words: boring, but radical.'
A rising star in his party and the sole Black Republican in the Senate, Scott has promised to deliver an 'honest conversation' and an 'optimistic and hopeful message' in his own nationally televised remarks.
'I can't wait to share the story of my family's American Dream. The Republican vision can make that dream a reality for everyone,' Scott, of South Carolina, said on Twitter earlier this week.
Former New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who is once again floating a potential run for president, on Sunday blasted Biden's plan to nearly double the capital gains tax, now set at 20 per cent, for those earning more than $1 million a year.
Joined by his mother Frances Scott, newly-elected U.S. Sen. Tim Scott receives a congratulatory call from President Obama at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. Scott will mention his biography in his GOP response speech
Lawmakers continue to discuss legislation in response to the murder of George Floyd during his arrest last May
Republicans are already painting Biden's agenda as being steered by left-wing lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
He said the capital gains issue 'is nothing more than income redistribution. It's socialism.'
Former Donald Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow, now a paid Fox News contributor, said Tuesday that Biden's plans to hike capital gains and corporate tax rates has juiced the left wing of the Democrats' House majority.
'This is redistribution, assault on investment and it makes left-wing ideology -- I will say AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York] is correct: the progressive left won Biden’s heart, absolutely," he said.
Trump himself will break precedent by providing his own reaction to Biden's speech with a Thursday morning interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network – the same platform he has used to attack Biden and raise his claims of election fraud.
President Biden will address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday
Scott on Wednesday night will describe his background being raised by a single mother who was a nurse's assistant as he tries to respond to President Biden's outreach to working Americans by touting a new $1.8 trillion program for community college, childcare programs, and paid leave.
'You figure out who your audience is, you figure out what you want to say and you try and find a way to say it well,' Scott said Tuesday as he refined the speech, which is usually orchestrated with congressional leaders when the party is out of power. 'And you lean into who you are,' he said – giving a hint that he plans to stress his biography.
A week after a jury convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man, Biden is expected to use his speech to make the case for far-reaching police reforms.
Scott, 55, who is helping to lead renewed congressional talks on police reform legislation, will be able to address Biden's remarks from his own experience as a poor Black child from a single-parent home who became a self-made businessman before entering national politics.
But there are substantial differences, including over a House-backed bill's provisions to pull back 'qualified immunity' for police who may cause someone's death while in the line of duty.
'I think it'll be an excellent outline of what our party believes ought to be the direction of the country,' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted at a news conference.
Scott is known for his ability to weave his personal story into a political message about who the Republican Party represents. His appearance comes at a time when Republican state legislatures across the country are advancing new voting restrictions, which Democrats denounce as a return to 'Jim Crow' segregation.
Republicans are promoting Scott as one of the country's most inspiring and unifying political leaders. Scott's office declined to provide specifics on his planned remarks.
His will not be the only speech responding to Biden. Unusually, progressive Democrats have tapped Representative Jamaal Bowman to deliver their own address afterward.
In an August speech to the Republican National Convention, Scott extolled the party's positions on school choice, economic opportunity and low taxes, while arguing that Biden wants to create a 'socialist utopia' in America.
'History has taught us that path only leads to pain and misery, especially for hardworking people hoping to rise,' he said.
Scott has even described Democratic partisanship as a barrier to policies that help Black communities.
'As a Black guy, I know how it feels to walk into a store and have the little clerk follow me around, even as a United States senator,' Scott said in a floor speech last year after Democrats blocked his own police reform legislation, which they argued was not sufficiently far-reaching.
'The stereotyping of Republicans is just as toxic and poisoned to the outcomes of the most vulnerable communities in this nation,' he said.
Scott has come under scrutiny in recent days, after the Washington Post reported that his narrative about a grandfather dropping out of elementary school to pick cotton overlooked the fact that his family owned the farm where he worked.
Republicans jumped to Scott's defense, along with some Democrats including Representative Karen Bass, a Black lawmaker involved in police reform legislation.
'Tim Scott is an honorable man,' Bass tweeted. 'It doesn't matter what party you're in - the journey of his family, from cotton to Congress in one lifetime, should be celebrated.' (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney)
Biden is expected to unveil Wednesday a massive capital gains increase. California, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and Oregon would have the highest top capital gains rates
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