Congressional members burst into laughter Thursday evening after President Joe Biden stated that he’s “delivered results in fiscally responsible ways” during his State of the Union speech.
During his speech, Biden began to speak on America’s “fundamental fairness,” stating that he has delivered “real” results by cutting the federal deficit. While some congressional members off camera could be heard cheering on the president, others could instead be heard laughing at Biden’s statement. (RELATED: The ‘Inflation Tax’ Is Now Eating More Of Americans’ Wages Than At Any Point In Biden’s Presidency)
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson could be seen behind Biden, appearing astonished by his statements regarding the country’s financial situation as he shook head in disbelief.
“Now let me speak to the question of fundamental fairness for all Americans. I‘ve been delivering real results in fiscally responsible ways. We’ve already cut the federal deficit over $1 trillion. I signed a bipartisan deal to cut another trillion dollars in the next decade. It’s my goal to cut the federal deficit another trillion dollars by getting big corporations to finally pay their fair share,” Biden stated.
“Look, I‘m a capitalist. If you want to make millions and millions of bucks, that‘s great. Just pay your fair share in taxes. A fair tax code is how we invest things to make this country great,” Biden continued. “Healthcare, education, defense, and so much more. But here‘s the deal, the last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly [benefiting] the top 1%, the very wealthy and biggest corporations, and exploded the federal deficit. They added more to the national debt than any presidential term in American history. Check the numbers.”
While Biden has claimed responsibility for reducing the federal deficit, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan budget watchdog, has repeatedly called out the president for adding to the debt, not reducing it. The federal budget group claims that all of the deficit reduction, in addition to certain “economic changes” with interest rates, is due to the expiration of COVID-19 spending.