Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Friday responded to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) criticism of President Biden’s State of the Union address as “hyper-partisan” and “vitriolic.”
During an appearance on “CNN This Morning” on Friday, Buttigieg stated that some of Johnson’s remarks were “literally false,” listing bipartisan laws that Biden had passed through Congress and approved.
“The speaker’s comments are literally false because the President mentioned a bipartisan infrastructure, a bipartisan border bill, and his bipartisan unity agenda on addressing issues like fentanyl and cancer,” Buttigieg said.
“In fact, almost everything that the president mentioned is supported by perhaps 60-70 percent or more of Americans,” he added.
The transportation secretary acknowledged that Biden criticized Republicans in Congress for supporting cuts in tax rates for wealthy individuals, but stressed that most U.S. voters agree with Biden on this issue.
“Although this is a highly polarized issue in Congress, the majority of Americans, including Democrats, independents, and Republicans, oppose the congressional Republicans’ agenda to reduce taxes for the wealthy and agree with the President that it is unfair for billionaires and major corporations to pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers,” he remarked.
Johnson stated that Biden’s speech was “overly partisan” when speaking to reporters after the speech on Thursday night, explaining why Biden was interrupted by a few GOP lawmakers.
“People became very emotional tonight because it was an excessively partisan speech filled with information that is objectively untrue. That’s why you saw the visceral reaction from the people in the chamber, and I believe that many people at home felt the same frustration, said Johnson said on Thursday night.
Biden had a intense argument with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of his most vocal critics in Congress, during the speech regarding Laken Riley, a Georgia student who was killed by a man who illegally crossed the border, according to police.
