Biden’s first year in White House? Utah Reps. Owens and Moore weigh in

SALT LAKE CITY — During a two-hour press conference Wednesday at the White House, President Joe Biden touted the accomplishments during his first year in office.

Later, Inside Sources host Boyd Matheson asked both Utah Republican Reps. Burgess Owens, 4th congressional district, and Blake Moore, 1st congressional district, for their take on the president’s performance during the year just passed.

Rep. Owens on the President’s first year in office

“I think America is now seeing — it’s no longer hypothetical — what socialism looks like. I think that’s important that we recognize it might sound good, but when we start feeling the pain of that, it’s not good for any of us,” Owens said, adding that Mr. Biden has come up short in these categories:

• open borders,
• inflation,
• emboldening adversaries,
• the “botched” withdrawal from Afghanistan,
• overreach by the government, and
• constitutional mandates.

On open borders, Owens said, “We have lost 100,000 Americans this one year because of fentanyl and drugs coming to the border. We have a president who’s not addressed it, doesn’t care about it. . . . Every city now is a border city, so whether it be drugs, whether it be COVID, whether it be crime, we’re all now very much close to the border in terms of what can happen in our community,” Owens said.

“Any areas where you feel like the president has done the right thing or anything you can say, ‘Hey, I’m glad he did that?'” Boyd asked.

“I’m sorry to say, no. I mean, I have to be totally honest. If there was something that I could say, that’s a bright spot, I would say, yes, but there’s no bright spots I’ve seen over the last year,” Owens said.

On Jan. 6, 2021, in the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Owens voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which would have excluded them from the Electoral College count that determined the next president of the United States and potentially changed the outcome of the election, according to govtrack.

Related: Utah’s Burgess Owens listed among GOP House members backing electoral vote challenge

 

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Rep. Moore on Biden’s first year

“As you look back at the president’s first year in office, what’s your take?” Boyd asked.

After the Georgia special US Senate elections of 2020-2021 resulted in Democrat Raphael Warnock defeating appointed incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Jon Ossoff defeating incumbent Republican David Perdue, “Joe Biden sort of just flipped, and he became much more liberal. He didn’t try to be collaborative in any way, shape or form,” Moore said. He cited the following areas where Mr. Biden has failed during his first year in office:

• inflation
• rising energy costs
• US-Mexico “border is a complete mess,” and
• “botched” withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“What do you say to the president in terms of what needs to happen as we try to move the country forward?” Boyd asked.

“Don’t demonize the few brave Democrats in office right now that are pushing back on things like removing the filibuster,” Moore said. “I believe behind [Sens. Joe] Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema, there are several more Democrat senators that are actually very supportive of  [the filibuster]. They can’t be bold enough to step out in front and take those arrows.”

“What is it that the Republican Party should be for in offering an alternative to the Biden administration?” Boyd asked.

As a member of the House Energy, Climate and Conservation Task Force, Moore said, “Biden is putting moratoriums that have not been helpful, that have directly raised costs on energy. If we can go and show how we would correct that, there’s your equation to get energy costs down.”

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app.