White House pushes back against ‘extreme Congressional Republicans’ in year-end memo

The White House in a year-end memo Monday pushed back against congressional Republicans, calling them “extreme” and saying they don’t have a strong economic plan.

Communications Director Ben LaBolt touted President Biden’s efforts to turn around the economy since taking office, adding that some Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare and overturn Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act.

“Meanwhile, extreme Congressional Republicans show each day that they don’t have a plan to lower costs for families. Their only plan is trillions of dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, saddling taxpayers with more debt,” LaBolt said. “They want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act try to block this Administration from lowering the costs of insulin and prescription drugs and undo the progress we’re making on clean energy.”

His memo, entitled “The Biden-Harris Agenda Delivered Meaningful Progress for Hardworking Americans in 2023,” outlined the administration’s work so far to bring down costs for Americans.

“They’re still trying to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And Congressional Republicans attack freedoms like the right to choose, right to vote, and right to love who you love and be who you are — an ideology out of step with most Americans that treasure their individual liberties,” LaBolt said.

LaBolt added that Biden has worked to lower prescription drug and health care costs, cracked down on junk fees, lowered energy costs, passed an infrastructure investments bill and worked to protect access to abortion.

He also noted the president has created jobs, especially in manufacturing, which has been a major talking point Biden uses on the campaign trail to prove with the low unemployment rate that the economy is improving.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office pushed back on the memo, citing issues with the border that it argued can be tracked back to the administration’s policies; high inflation, and a “weak foreign policy” that it argued has “emboldened America’s enemies across the globe.”

Biden’s campaign also hit congressional Republicans as extreme in October, saying Johnson bolstered the so-called MAGA takeover of House Republicans.

The White House has long accused House Republicans of making Social Security and Medicare cuts a priority.

Earlier this year, Biden had a back-and-forth with House Republicans during his State of the Union address, during which he warned that some Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Biden vowed he would veto any such effort, eliciting boos and jeers from many GOP lawmakers in attendance who argued his claims were not true.

This story was updated at 2:01 p.m.

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