To the editor:

In his State of the Union address, President Biden claimed his administration had cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion in the last two years. Not true. In 2021, Biden’s first year in office, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan that provided an additional $1.9 trillion in COVID relief funds. Given there was no revenue to cover the cost of the plan, Biden created deficit spending (excess of expenditures over revenue) of $1.9 trillion and added $1.9 trillion to the nation’s debt. The Infrastructure bill, also passed in 2021, the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and student loan forgiveness will add trillions more to deficit spending and to the national debt. The national debt has increased $3.1 trillion in Biden’s first two years. When Biden claims to have reduced deficit spending, he should then be asked how much he has reduced the national debt.

In his address Biden stated fentanyl had killed 70,000 Americans last year. In January, one of the few times Biden had mentioned fentanyl, he stated 20,000 pounds of fentanyl had been seized at the border in the prior six months and said it was enough to kill 1,000 people. Biden is clueless. He should know that amount of fentanyl is enough to kill every man, woman, and child in this country. Because of Biden’s open border policies, fentanyl is smuggled undetected into America and will be the cause of tens of thousands of deaths this year and next until a Republican administration takes charge. The mounting number of fentanyl deaths are on Biden’s watch.

Biden did mention Ukraine and the country’s support for Ukraine. The United States Congress has approved more than $113 billion in military and economic aid to support Ukraine’s war against Russia. Billions more will be spent. But you ain’t seen nothing yet. When the war is over, assuming Ukraine remains a country independent of Russia, it will take perhaps hundreds of billions to rebuild Ukraine. And guess who will foot most of the bill?

Biden did speak about China sending a spy balloon over our country. He said when China threatens our sovereignty, “we will act to protect our country, and we did.” Biden acted. But not until the Chinese had gathered intelligence and sensitive information while the balloon passed unobstructed across Alaska, Canada, and the entire United States from the west to the east coast, where the balloon, a day late and a dollar short, was destroyed. And recently, as a result of the slow response to the Chinese threat, Biden has gotten a little jumpy and has directed our military to destroy, at last count, three very small balloons described as weather, industrial, or “hobby” balloons. Our friends are perplexed and our adversaries are laughing at the thought of the use of a $400,000 Sidewinder missile to destroy a balloon said to be the size of a car.

My favorite part the evening took place before Biden was introduced. First Lady Jill Biden made her way into the gallery, approached where the Vice President’s husband was seated, and proceeded to plant a kiss, not on the cheek which would have been the more appropriate decorum, but smack-dab on the lips. Don’t worry Jill, if Joe saw it happen or was told about it, he wouldn’t remember it.

Chuck Peterson

Fort Dodge