“America does not have strong leadership from the president and the vice president today. Joe Biden is stumbling, bumbling, and blundering into disaster… Americans are in danger.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor today on the urgent need for strong American leadership. Weakness from Joe Biden and the Democrats has created a border crisis at home and chaos abroad.
Sen Barrasso’s Remarks:
“I rise today to speak about the need for strong American leadership.
“President Biden’s weakness, as seen on the world stage, is dangerous. It is dangerous for our nation and the world. It hurts our citizens and encourages aggression against our nation and others. Sadly, America does not have strong leadership from the president or the vice president.
“Joe Biden is stumbling, bumbling, and blundering into disaster. It is not one night of forgetfulness on the debate stage. It is a three-and-a-half-year pattern of failure.
“We are living in a time of heartbreak at home and humiliation abroad. Look at the drugs, the death, the destruction coming from our southern border. Under Democrat open-border policies, there have been 10 million illegal immigrants who have invaded our nation. Americans all across the country are in danger. Democrats’ open border allowed Venezuelan criminals to go to Houston, Texas, to sexually abuse and murder a 12-year-old girl.
“Illegal immigrant crime has taken the lives of many Americans across the country and makes headlines every day. The open border allows deadly fentanyl to flood our nation and poison our communities in all of our states. Certainly, Wyoming has been victim of this poisoning.
“More than 300 terror suspects have come into America. That is 3000 percent higher than what we saw under the strong policies of President Trump. And terrorists are roaming our nation undetected.
“Remember, border security is not optional. It is an obligation – a commitment to our American people. It is the foundation of our safety. Without border security, there can be no national security.
“Under Joe Biden, Americans are not safe at home. Increasingly, the world is not safe either. President Biden’s weakness has invited war, invited conflict, and invited chaos around the world.
“He continues to appease Iran by letting Iran evade sanctions. Iran is exporting almost 1.3 million barrels of oil to China every day. It uses the money from these oil sales to fund terrorism around the world. President Biden made the misguided assumption that concessions to Iran would stop conflict. Instead, Biden’s appeasement makes Iran more aggressive.
“Meanwhile, Biden has proven to be a fair-weather friend to our strong ally Israel.
“On American college campuses today, student protestors express hostility to the very existence of the Jewish state. Democrats in Washington have also grown more hostile to Israel. Senator Schumer demanded – on this very floor in March – that Israel replace its prime minister. Senator Sanders called the very next month for America to stop sending aid to Israel.
“The anti-Israel drift in the Democratic Party is bad enough. What is more worrying is that President Biden – the leader of the Free World – lacks the backbone to stand against it.
“Rather than resist the pro-Hamas wing of his party, Biden has repeatedly bowed to them. He recently slapped a de facto arms embargo on Israel. The weapons he withheld would limit civilian casualties and help Israel free the hostages. Biden stopped that. That includes eight American hostages who spent the past nine months, including their Fourth of July, in captivity by Hamas.
“President Biden blocked these war-winning weapons anyways. He would rather appease a small group of pro-Hamas voters in Michigan than support our closest ally in the Middle East. Playing politics is the core of Joe Biden’s foreign policy.
“He recently claimed that no American service members died on his watch. He told the world that. That is false. It’s wrong. It’s a denial of what happened.
“On January 11, 2024, two Navy SEALS were lost at sea during a mission to stop weapons shipments from Iran to Houthi terrorists. Less than three weeks later, on January 28, three American soldiers were killed in Jordan by Iranian-backed militias.
“Then, there is the disaster of Afghanistan. On August 26, 2021, ISIS terrorists killed 13 brave American service members. They were the first American military casualties in Afghanistan in a year and a half.
“20-year-old Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum of Jackson Hole, Wyoming was one of them. This was a young man who loved his country and left an impression on everyone he met. He was our home state wrestling champion. He was recently married and was about to become a father. 1300 people in Wyoming attended his funeral. It was outdoors in a tent, 37 degrees, lasted several hours, and no one left.
“Americans deserve better than a president who forgets the sacrifices of America’s heroes and forgives the aggression of America’s adversaries.
“Joe Biden’s weakness and confusion are a vivid contrast to what past Presidents have done.
“I think of President Ronald Reagan and his successful policy of ‘Peace through Strength.’ For eight years, President Reagan built a strong national defense, restored America’s confidence, and confronted America’s enemies. His approach incredibly ended the Cold War without firing a single shot.
“Three decades later, President Trump adopted a similar policy. No more apologizing for America, like President Obama did. We had strong borders. We had a strong military. We had a strong economy. Most of all, we had strong leadership. Our allies respected us, and our enemies feared us. We were safer.
“It’s time for America to return to this approach. The truth is, Joe Biden is a president who cannot defend his record and cannot defend this nation. For the safety of our nation, we need a lot less of Joe Biden’s weakness and a lot more peace through strength.
“That’s what we need to do to get America back on track.”
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