On Thursday morning, the House Oversight Committee will conduct a hearing on "A Legacy of Incompetence: Consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Policy Failures." Ahead of the hearing, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) released a memorandum on the Biden-Harris record for all Committee members to see. Townhall was granted an exclusive look.
While there certainly is a focus on inflation and the crisis at the southern border--two top issues to Americans ahead of the election--the exhaustive memo also delves into other topics. In addition to sections on "Economic and Regulatory Policy" and "Border Crisis," there's also "Waste and Mismanagement of Taxpayer Dollars" and "Foreign Policy & National Security."
It's not merely the Biden-Harris Administration that is called out. Congressional Democrats get a mention as well.
"The Biden-Harris Administration’s expansive and costly regulatory agenda, combined with out-of-control spending fueled by Congressional Democrats’ irresponsibility in the 117th Congress, contributed to high levels of inflation and will continue leading to sustained price increases into the future as high regulatory costs are passed along to consumers," the memo mentions early on.
While there's plenty to be said about how the country got to where we are thanks to the Biden-Harris administration as well as Congressional Democrats, there's also a warning about what it all means.
"Whether through executive orders, rulemaking, guidance, or displays of incompetent management and weak leadership, the Administration has demonstrated its inability to govern coherently and deliver for the American people as it is pulled along by crisis after crisis," the memo mentions at the start. "Poor policy choices, little to no accountability for officials who failed to deliver on their missions, and weak and ineffective leadership on the global stage are hallmarks of the Biden-Harris Administration that have exacerbated the risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of government programs and operations."
That's where the American people are further mentioned. "This failure of leadership has led to serious negative consequences for the American people, eroding their purchasing power while wasting their money on progressive policies that do not achieve real world results, and leaving them vulnerable to security threats at home and abroad," the memo continues.
There certainly is a "crisis after crisis" mentality, including and especially with economic concerns. As of May 2024, wages had failed to keep pace with rising inflation for 12 consecutive months, with 1 in 3 workers feeling like they live paycheck to paycheck. In contrast, the average year-over-year inflation rate in 2019 under then President Donald Trump was 1.9 percent.
Speaking further of inflation, the memo reminds that President Joe Biden was all too happy to sign partisan bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the woefully misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with Vice President Kamala Harris having cast the tiebreaking vote for the latter. Biden also signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
When it comes to the IRA, the memo also reminds how Biden himself acknowledged the misleading nature of the bill, when speaking earlier this month, as we also covered at the time.
The memo also highlights another stark reality during this administration. "Estimates have shown that households now spend over $11,400 more each year to maintain the same quality of life as they did in January 2021," it reads.
Put another way, "Americans now pay, on average, over 20 percent more for the same goods and services tracked by the Consumer Price Index than they did when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office in January 2021."
Then there's what's aptly described as the "historic border crisis" which Comer's memo calls out as having come about due to "deliberate policy choices" and from "encouraging millions of illegal aliens to enter and remain in the country unlawfully."
Consider these statistics under the Biden-Harris administration:
- Over 8 million encounters of illegal immigrants at the southern border, with over 7 million taking place in between ports of entry.
- The release of over 5.6 million illegal immigrants into the country.
- Over 1.9 million illegal immigrants were gotaways who evaded apprehension from law enforcement
There has also been a rise in individuals with ties to the terror watch list entering in between ports of entry, with the number at over 96 so far for FY 2024. "Given the high level of known gotaways, the Committee fears that terrorists and other bad actors are attempting to exploit weaknesses in border security to infiltrate the United States," the memo warns.
As much as the mainstream media would prefer to cover up for Harris, she is directly involved as the border czar, a title bestowed upon her in March 2021.
In bringing up such a role that the vice president has had, the memo reminds of the reasons for the border crisis in contrast to the supposed "root causes" Harris was to study, including the following actions during the very first day of this administration:
- Ending the Remain in Mexico policy
- Stopping construction of the border wall
- Sent a legislative proposal to Congress that contained a plan for amnesty
- Limited discretion of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers with enforcement against illegal immigrants. Removal rates quickly and drastically fell. Not long after that, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also issued a memo restricting policies for enforcement
"The resulting chaos overwhelmed law enforcement, undermined the functioning of the lawful immigration system, and left the country more vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists and criminals," Comer's memo warns.
When it comes to "Waste and Mismanagement of Taxpayer Dollars" there's a key reminder for Committee members. "The Biden-Harris Administration’s often touted 'accomplishments' are only massive expenditures of taxpayer dollars that have failed to yield real-world results due to mismanagement, waste, and abuse," the memo mentions.
For instance, the IIJA was supposed to provide $7.5 billion in funding for 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2030. As of May, there's only been seven, operating in four states.
The IRA's true purpose of climate change activism again comes up under such a header, with details of how grants are awarded to far-left activist groups.
And, while the Biden-Harris Administration authorized the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program's $42 billion in grants, and the IIJA appropriated billions of dollars for connectivity, "not a single American household can access broadband internet as part of the BEAD program," the memo points out.
The BEAD program is also just another far-left policy agenda item of Harris. "The Administration, through Vice President Harris, provided that BEAD must encompass a 'climate change agenda, DEI requirements, technology biases, price controls, and government-run network preferences,'" Comer's memo noted, with a note that "industries are not hiding that the regulatory burden is a major concern."
And yet what Comer refers to as "exorbitant regulations and wasteful spending on projects that lead to nowhere" still continue.
"The Biden Harris Administration’s weak and ineffective leadership on the global stage has exacerbated global conflicts, created instability, and emboldened adversaries—putting Americans at risk at home and abroad," Comer's memo further lays out.
The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers, hundreds of Americans being stranded, terrorists gaining equipment, and failure of accountability is mentioned first and foremost here, as well as how it "exposed the Administration’s strategic incompetence." But this is hardly the only foreign policy issue on the world stage.
There's also discussion of how Ukraine has received over $174 billion in aid, though "the conflict drags on with limited oversight into defense articles transferred into Ukraine, and failure by the Administration to articulate a coherent strategy for ending the conflict."
Comer takes issue with how the administration also does not properly recognize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the threat that it is.
When it comes to the more recent conflict, the memo criticizes the Biden-Harris response on the Israel-Hamas war as "inconsistent," highlighting how Democrats are in disarray.
"In an ongoing effort to appease progressive Democrats, the Biden-Harris Administration’s policy on the Israel-Hamas war has been inconsistent. The President and his Administration have publicly stated support for Israel, while at the same time criticizing Israel’s defensive efforts in Gaza and the region as 'over the top' and 'indiscriminate,'" the memo noted. "In fact, on May 8, 2024, President Biden threatened the withholding of weapons to Israel if they continued their efforts to eradicate Hamas in the city of Rafah in Gaza," the memo added.
In addition to adding some background about the Obama-Biden administration, the memo speaks out against this current administration's handling of Iran and its proxies.
"The Biden-Harris Administration has engaged in an appeasement policy toward Iran since the outset of its Administration," the memo warned, also speaking out against how this administration "continues to accommodate the regime, taking a dangerous position of U.S. weakness."
Comer had further strong words about the administration in a statement for Townhall. "Today’s memorandum details how the Biden-Harris Administration has recycled failed policies and continues to work overtime to distract the American people from their disastrous record. Americans can see right through this Administration’s efforts to sugarcoat and downplay the consequences of their actions," he said.
"Record high inflation, the worst border crisis in history, and chaos on the global stage can all be traced to policy and leadership decisions made by this Administration. The Oversight Committee is exposing the consequences of this Administration’s policy agenda and will continue to discuss solutions today that can reverse the damage this Administration has caused and provide Americans relief," the chairman continued.
The hearing is set to start at 10am. Be sure to follow along with Townhall for coverage of the hearing.