Rep. Andy Barr: Democrats Have Failed on the Economy, Crime, and the Border

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) on Sunday predicted that Republicans will win the upcoming midterm elections by a “landslide” because “Joe Biden has done such a poor job and congressional Democrats have failed the American people on the economy, crime, and the border.”

“We have a positive agenda. We have a commitment to America, and we’re going to get back to basics,” Barr told NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked what the Republican plan is to deal with inflation other than not supporting Biden’s policies.

“Republicans are going to win landslide elections not just because Joe Biden has done such a poor job and congressional Democrats have failed the American people on the economy, crime and the border, but because we have a positive agenda to secure the border, to get back to basics, to stop the flow of drugs into our communities, to prevent people on the terror watch list from coming across the southern border, and to restore the Remain in Mexico policy that this administration just reversed, to finish a border wall infrastructure and technology and resource Border Patrol,” he said.

“You know, the Democrats just passed a bill that would increase the workforce at the IRS by 87,000 people to come after law-abiding American small business owners and harass them. We don’t need more IRS agents. We need more Border Patrol agents, and we have a commonsense plan to reduce the cost of living, to lower the cost at the pump,” the congressman said.

“We want to restore American energy independence. We’re going to end these policies that prevent — that prevent us from being energy independent. We’re going to stop the politicization of the financing of energy, and we are going to produce more energy to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy and also speculative, unreliable sources of energy that this administration is so obsessed about,” Barr said.

Host Chuck Todd asked if Republicans are concerned that with gas prices going down, and threats to democracy becoming a top issue to voters, whether the GOP “all of a sudden” don’t have the right message to win the midterm elections.

“Well, Chuck, at the beginning of the program you made the important point that the American people are angry and anxious, and there’s a reason why the American people are angry and anxious, and that’s because they are worse off under the policies of congressional Democrats and Joe Biden,” Barr said.

“Yes, they are concerned about our country and the future of our country because we’re in a recession, because we’ve had two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth despite what the White House wants to do in redefining that term. Real wages are down. Credit card debt is up because people cannot afford this increased cost of living,” he said.

“We are experiencing the highest inflation, Chuck, in 40 years. The average American household is suffering under $5,000 reduced purchasing power. They’re paying more for virtually everything. Gas prices have doubled. There’s an energy crisis in this country because this president has waged a war on energy in this country,” the congressman said.

“We are no longer energy independent. In fact, we’ve gone from energy dominant to energy desperate in just a year and a half’s time, and we are experiencing a crime wave — 15% increase in homicides because of the defund police movement, and we have no operational control over the southern border, and in my home state of Kentucky, we are experiencing the worst fentanyl overdose crisis in our country,” Barr said.

“No, Kentucky is not on the southern border, but we are a border state because our citizens are dying because this administration and this leadership in the Democrat-controlled Congress refuses to follow the law and secure our border, and people are dying because of this. That’s why the American people are anxious and angry in this country and why they want to change,” he said.

“Let me ask you about the IRS talking point because I just don’t get it because a lot of Republicans have talked about dealing with waste, fraud and abuse. The current head of the IRS, who was a Trump appointee, said he didn’t have enough people to essentially — that the biggest problem we have is people don’t pay the taxes that they’re supposed to pay. If you’re upset about extra IRS agents, stop cheating on your taxes, Congressman, and I’m not saying you personally, but I mean, I’m talking about in general,” Todd asked. 

“Right, Chuck. Look, everybody believes that people should pay their taxes, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looking at this legislation, this reconciliation bill, this inflation expansion act, says that $20 billion of these audits are going to come at the expense of low and middle-income Americans,” Barr said.

“When Joe Biden and his campaign promised the American people that, “Oh, taxes were not going to go up for people earning less than $400,000,” that was a lie. This bill is going to come at the expense of the American people,” the congressman said.

“Raising taxes on energy producers, job creators and people trying to save for retirement in the middle of a recession, I don’t know for the life of me why they think that’s a winning strategy in a situation where Americans can’t afford gas, they can’t afford groceries. Heck, moms can’t even get baby formula right now,” he said.

“So, the economy is not serving the Democrats well, and only in Joe Biden’s America, only in Joe Biden’s America, is the solution to an inflation-induced — spending-induced inflation crisis more spending. The way to fix inflation is to lower taxes, to repair our supply chains and to produce more energy to lower prices. That’s the solution, and that’s the Republican solution,” Barr added.

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