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FIRST ON FOX: Senator John Boozman of Arkansas plans to respond to President Biden’s first State of the Union address during a floor speech Thursday. Boozman is expected to slam President Biden’s “disconnect’ from rural America, which he says is damaging to the U.S., especially as the Russian-Ukraine war wages.
Boozman plans to begin his speech by applauding Biden for solidifying America’s support of Ukraine, saying it brought “unity in the chamber.”
“That strong message was conveyed to the international community during his address, and the appreciation from both sides of the aisle was reflected in our collective response. It was a moment when you felt complete unity in the chamber,” according to a draft of Boozman’s address obtained by Fox News Digital.
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The Republican senator will also lament that “it was the only moment of unity in the entire address.”
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
“There is a major disconnect between the struggles Americans experience every day and the image the president and his team are desperately trying to project,” Boozman’s speech adds.
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Boozman plans to point to the president’s focus on climate and social justice issues rather than the impact inflation will continue to have on rural Americans.
“Over the course of an hour, the president boasted about spending billions on unnecessary wish list items, pushed his climate-first agenda and laid out his big government social justice platform,” the Boozman speech states.
According to the senator, gas prices, electricity bills and food prices are on the rise as a result of the Biden administration’s big spending, and the senator contends Biden is not doing enough to fix a “fractured” America.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The issue of rising inflation is amplified due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came out Thursday in support of banning all Russian oil to the United States amid growing momentum in Congress to find additional ways to cut off revenue streams to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bipartisan members of Congress have been pushing legislation to ban oil imports from Russia, and Republicans in particular have been calling for more domestic oil and gas production in response to Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
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Also included in Boozman’s speech is criticism of Biden’s push to revive his Build Back Better plan. Boozman will say that Biden must look out for all Americans, not just “big city liberals,” who the senator felt the president’s State of the Union address targeted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, right, and Vice President Kamala Harris talk as President Biden speaks during his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 1, 2022.
(Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We must find solutions to rebuild economies and secure livelihoods in rural America. But President Biden only mentioned the word ‘rural’ once in his entire State of the Union address,” Boozman’s response states.
“My advice to President Biden: It’s time to stop pushing that boulder up the hill.”
The senator is set to speak on the Senate floor at 3 p.m. ET.
