FACT CHECK: Republican's Response To Biden's Address To Congress

Speaker 1: 00:00 After president Biden, outlined expansive plans on jobs, infrastructure, and the American family and his speech to Congress last night, Republican Senator Tim Scott provided the GOP response. Speaker 2: 00:12 President Biden promised you a specific kind of leadership. He promised to United nation to lower the temperature to govern for all Americans. No matter how we voted, this was the pitch. You just heard it again. But our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes. We need policies and progress that brings us closer together. But three months then the actions of the president and his party are pulling us further and further apart. Speaker 1: 00:43 Other Republicans attack the broad strokes of Biden's agenda as too expensive and too socialist. But the president did offer critics and olive branch. When he said last night, he was outlining his policies as a first step toward engaging in honest negotiations, with those who disagree and may be able to bring better ideas to the table. So the question is, will Republicans engage in good faith to make policy with the Biden administration? And do they have any better ideas joining me to discuss that is Republican strategists, Bob Schumann, Bob, welcome to the program. Speaker 3: 01:17 Thank you. Thanks for having me Speaker 1: 01:19 Now as a long-time political observer, what did you think of the president's speech last night? Speaker 3: 01:23 You know, in, in my profession, you look at things sometimes a little bit differently than, than someone else. And so you, you look at the presentation itself and the, you look at the optics of it and then you'll look at the substance of it. And I think all three were kind of bad. You know, we've seen president Biden in the past, not the recent past, but in the past be pretty fiery and pretty motivational and pretty inspirational. And last night he was just kind of monotone and kind of flat for the most part. And, and part of that may have to do with not being much of a crowd there. Well, the Epic park will look great was the vice president and the speaker of the house, both women for the first time sitting back there, that was pretty cool. But when they pan the gallery and he had everybody socially distance wearing masks, uh, after, you know, a pretty large drive to give people confidence in the backseat. And I think that sent kind of a mixed message, uh, because they were all vaccinated yet. They were still wearing masks and socially distancing. So it not sure that was the best option, but I don't know what their other options might have been either. Finally, the substance of it. I think you hit it when you said expansive. It is really big and it's, you know, it's higher taxes. It's much more spending, uh, more government in our lives, uh, kind of across the board. Speaker 1: 02:46 Did you hear in Biden's speech that you think Republicans might be able to work on with Democrats? Speaker 3: 02:51 You want me to take a step back? Both parties kind of do the same thing when they win, even by the narrowest of margins, they think they have a, and they tend to overreach. And typically then what happens is the party not in power, puts up a bill, but it's substantially smaller than the one that was put up. And they, they sit together and they kind of work it out and they figure out where they have common ground and that's kind of where they end up going. But that hasn't been the pattern under the, at least for the last two presidents. Hopefully they can do that. They can get together. I know that on the infrastructure bill, the Democrats have, have a pretty big bill there that the Republicans came back with one substantially smaller and maybe they can meet somewhere in the middle and get something done. Speaker 1: 03:37 And you think that's what is going to take to get both sides working together again, to pass laws that help the American people. Speaker 3: 03:44 Yeah, I mean, that's their jobs and I think both sides want to do it. I, I think that what's, what's changed in, in recent history is that both parties used to want this same goal. They wanted the same thing. Everybody wanted, you know, full employment without inflation. They wanted everybody to get the best education possible. They just disagreed on how you get there. But now we don't even necessarily agree on what we want America to look like. And I think that's really the crux of the problem that we're going through right now. And I, I think it's something we'll work through on something we'll get through, but that's the biggest problem right now is whole different vision of what will, Speaker 1: 04:21 Okay. So even though Americans remain deeply divided politically, it seems that president Biden's polling remains above 50% approval and it seems Americans are becoming more disenchanted with the Trump legacy as his approval rating is going down. Is this a political problem for the Trump loyalists in the GOP? Speaker 3: 04:42 That's a little hard to tell us a little early to tell, but with Biden's numbers, the real clear politics summary, uh, is at 43%. And that's the second lowest number a hundred days in since 1945. So he's not wildly popular, but I do think it's reflective of where we are as a country. And I'm not surprised that Trump's numbers are slipping. He's not been in the public eye very much and other others are stepping forward as potential presidential candidates. And I think as that happens, uh, and people start to think a little bit about who they may want their leader to be next time around. It's only natural that he would slip, Speaker 1: 05:22 You know, speaking of polling here in California, Gavin Newsome's poll numbers are steady or actually improving. It looks like winning a recall will be an uphill battle. How much time and money do you think is the GOP willing to put into this recall effort? Speaker 3: 05:39 Know, I don't, I don't really know. I think they'll put in the time, but I think you hit the kind of the weak point, which may be the money. Uh, even, even as Gavin Newsome has recalled. There's a very good chance that a different Democrat, but when to replace him, the way that it's set up and typically in the motivation is much more with those who want to remove the governor as opposed to those who want to keep on, but the Republicans have a real uphill battle trying to take it. We don't have a superstar. I think we have some solid candidates, but you know, we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens. Speaker 1: 06:15 I think you're right about that. I've been speaking with the Republican strategist, Bob Schuman, Bob, thank you so much. Speaker 3: 06:21 Thank you. Appreciate it.