Fifty days ago, President Joe Biden declared in his inaugural address, “Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together. Uniting our people. And uniting our nation.” Most Americans, myself included, listened to these first words of the new administration with hopeful ears. But as we have come to learn, unity stands in firm contrast to the actions of this White House. Unfortunately, too many of President Biden’s policies have led to a 50-day drive to divide.
Many consider the 100-day mark as a barometer for how quickly and effectively a president can govern. However, when it comes to President Biden, we don’t need 100 days to make that judgment. In just 50 days, it is clear that his administration is paving a path of executive overreach, disunity and partisanship.
On day one, the president implemented a slew of executive orders and actions within hours of his swearing-in ceremony. In the 15 acts he signed – a record he holds over his predecessors by a wide margin – Joe Biden paved the way for us to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, preserve DACA, halt border wall construction, revoke the Keystone XL Pipeline permits and reverse many of President Trump’s policies.
Rather than extending an olive branch to conservatives, this administration has chosen to please the far left. This stands in stark contrast with what President Biden said on January 20, “And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans. I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.” While we can all appreciate the pledge President Biden took, the actions of his administration have not matched the words he spoke.
Take the strictly partisan $1.9 trillion COVID “relief” package for example. This spending bill was created behind closed doors without any Republican input, and it is full of liberal policies that have nothing to do with the coronavirus. And when conservatives offered common sense amendments to this bill, they were shot down on a party-line vote. There is nothing close to bipartisan about that legislation or the process in which it was written.
In order to fight for the 74 million Americans who did not vote for the president, Joe Biden must be willing to step into the middle ground. This will not be easy I realize. However, advocating for a $15 minimum wage, working to liberalize immigration and nominating pro-abortion cabinet and administration officials are antithetical to cooperation.
In fact, all of those items are inconsistent with President Biden’s pledge. But he can choose to change that, and the first step towards fulfilling that promise is walking away from his current path and trekking over to the road of bipartisanship. There are areas where we can work together. Take rural broadband, for instance, a critical need that has widespread bipartisan support. Or backing NASA in the push to return to the moon by 2024. Also, both sides agree that we need to end human trafficking once and for all, and we can work together to achieve it.
The next 50 days can be a time of bipartisanship and true unity, but that can only happen if President Biden chooses it. Again, I understand it won’t be easy. But the effort to unify takes more than just words, it takes action. And President Biden’s actions in his 50-day drive to divide must change, lest his words from January 20, 2021, come to define his presidency: “For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.”
U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-04) is a Republican from Haleyville.
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