“Today, kids are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again and if they look a certain way, they’re an oppressor. From colleges to corporations to culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress at all, by doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal. You know this stuff is wrong. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) delivered the GOP’s response to Joe Biden’s first Congressional Address.
He began by praising the corona virus packages that Democrats and Republicans worked together to deliver; however, on the fifth time, he says that “Democrats wanted to go at it alone”, spending $2 trillion dollars on a relief bill where only 1% went to Covid relief, adding that there was no provision for reopening schools.
“Another issue that should unite us is infrastructure. Republicans support everything you think of when you think of infrastructure: roads, bridges, ports, airports, waterways, high-speed broadband. But again, Democrats want a partisan wish list. They won’t even build bridges to build bridges. Less than 6% of the President’s plan goes to roads and bridges. It’s a big government waste. Plus, the biggest job killing tax hikes in a generation. Experts say that, when all is said and done, it will lower wages of the average American worker and shrink our economy. ”
He later added that infrastructure spending that shrinks our economy is not common sense.
Scott pushed back on the “Family Plan” that he claimed would increase taxes and Washington spending, while replacing the role of families with a bigger government.
He questioned Biden’s values that he had previously held for decades. Biden was once against abortion and against packing the supreme court, and in 1983 saying that that would be a “bonehead idea”.
On the campaign trail, Biden refused to answer questions on the latter, going as far as saying that voters “do not deserve” to know whether he plans to pack the court.
Scott then recognized that no “where do we need more common ground more desperately than in our discussions of race. I’ve experienced the pain of discrimination,” he said. “I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason… I’ve also experienced a different kind of intolerance. I get called an uncle tom, the “n” word by progressives, by liberals.”
“Just last week a national newspaper suggested that my family’s poverty was actually privilege, because a relative owned land generations before my time. Believe me I know our healing is not finished.”
Tim Scott listed off his efforts to mend the injustices against blacks who have been victims of negligent policing.
“In 2015, after the shooting of Walter Scott, I wrote a bill to fund body cameras. Last year, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I built an even bigger police reform proposal.”
Last summer, that proposal fell on deaf ears. But, as CNN suggests, now that we’re in a non-election year, these proposals have been given new light.
“But my Democratic colleagues blocked [the police reform bill],” Scott said. “I extended an olive branch, I offered amendments, but Democrats used the filibuster to block the debate from even happening. My friends across the aisle seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution.”
“But I’m still working; I’m hopeful that this will be different. When America comes together, we’ve made tremendous progress; but powerful forces want to pull us apart. 100 years ago, kids in classrooms were taught that the color of their skin was their most important characteristic. And if they looked a certain way,” Scott said pointing to himself, “they were inferior.
“Today, kids are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again and if they look a certain way, they’re an oppressor. From colleges to corporations to culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress at all, by doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal. You know this stuff is wrong. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country.”
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