Biden calls Republicans ‘fiscally demented’ ahead of debt ceiling fight
Naomi Lim
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On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President Joe Biden is seeking to amplify how he has helped black communities across the country.
But his criticism of congressional Republicans before what are anticipated to be difficult negotiations over raising the debt ceiling overshadowed his remarks to Rev. Al Sharpton‘s annual National Action Network breakfast.
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“They’re fiscally demented, I think,” Biden said Monday of Republicans after promoting his deficit-cutting measures. “They don’t quite get it.”
Biden also alluded to Republican scrutiny of critical race theory, saying it is about “talking about history.”
“The idea that we’re supposed to remain silent on the abuses of the past as if they didn’t occur? That’s not being woke,” he said. “That’s being honest.”
Biden, too, repeated his desire to prohibit “assault weapons,” reiterating “there’s no social redeeming value” to the firearms.
“I love my right-wing friends who talk about the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots,” he said. “If you need to worry about taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s. You don’t need an AR-15.”
The White House underscored economics when it previewed Biden’s keynote address, the breakfast held this year at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre simultaneously tweeted lines from the speech, including that black unemployment is “near record lows,” black wages “are up,” and the past two years have been the “strongest” regarding small business creation.
One day earlier, Biden delivered a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, described as King’s “pastoral home.” There, he remembered King transforming the “soul of America,” but recognized “the work that has to continue” concerning racial equality, economic justice, and protecting our democracy.
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On Monday, Biden recalled the appearance, which coincided with King’s 94th birthday, as “deeply meaningful and moving” because “we face another inflection point in our nation’s history.”
“This is a time for choosing,” he added. “Will we choose democracy over autocracy, community over chaos, love or hate? These are the questions of our time.”
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