President Joe Biden will use a speech at a steamfitters union hall in Virginia on Thursday to launch an attack against Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives, saying some of their proposals are dangerous for the U.S. economy.
Biden, who is laying the groundwork for a bid for re-election in 2024, will visit the union hall in Springfield, Virginia, a Washington suburb.
Republicans seized control of the House by a narrow margin in last November’s midterm elections and in the weeks since have threatened to refuse to raise the U.S. debt ceiling limit and planned investigations of the Democratic president’s Cabinet and family.
The House passed a bill to slash the Internal Revenue Service budget, and some Republicans propose cutting Social Security and Medicare, retirement and healthcare spending programs for senior citizens.
Biden has sought to portray them as out of step with the concerns of Americans.
A White House official said Biden will seek to tie House Republicans to former President Donald Trump, the Republican who Biden ousted in the 2020 election. Biden will refer to them as beholden to Trump, whose 2016 campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again” (MAGA).
“The president will outline the biggest threat to our economic progress: House Republicans’ MAGA economic plan,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Biden has warned he would veto Republican proposals on the strategic petroleum reserves, cutting taxes on corporations and a national sales tax should they reach his desk. Biden’s Democrats control the Senate.
The economy under Biden has been gripped by inflation that is now ebbing, as are fears that a recession is imminent. U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 2.9% annualized rate in last year’s fourth quarter, exceeding expectations, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
It will be Biden’s first major economic speech of the year, and he will use it promote his record on the U.S. economy, including the creation of more manufacturing jobs and a low unemployment rate.
Biden will say his policies “are laying the foundation for strong and stable growth,” the White House official said.
