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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)– Proposals of new bills and hefty price tags at the State of the Union have republican leaders voicing concern. The community will wake this morning to the responses of Louisiana Senator’s and Representative’s thoughts on Wednesday night’s State of the Union address.

President Joe Biden’s sights are definitely set on the future of the country and moving it forward.
It’s been about 100 days since President Joe Biden took office and during the annual State of the Union address, one of the first things he announced was a call for a special joint session of congress.

With the Coronavirus pandemic at the forefront of everyone’s mind and the violence on Capitol Hill, Biden’s words to the people were unlike any other president’s remarks in history. For the first time ever, there were no guests, there were only 200 attendees, instead of the usual 1,600.

Unveiling a new call to action from lawmakers during the address, Biden also focused on child care, education, gun reform, and infrastructure.

The President is now asking Congress to take action on his massive infrastructure bill and to unveil a separate childcare and education plan, asking them to spend more than $4 trillion in new spending. To pay for it, President Biden is wanting congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Now, getting strong republican opposition for the price tags and a broad range of proposals…. Several local leaders are responding to last night’s address.

“My first impression was ‘what, you want to spend another $1.9 trillion on top of the $2.2 trillion you’re talking about now on top of the $1.9 trillion that has already been approved on top of the $1.5 trillion that is our normal country’s budget?’ We’re talking about five times the regular amount of money that Congress would spend. I don’t want to be negative but it certainly sounds like the definition of a tax and spend agenda,” said U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA).

Not happy with the promises being made by the President either, U.S. Senator John N. Kennedy is saying he is also disappointed in the message from Biden.

“President Biden tonight called for a massive intervention by the federal government into the lives of the American people. He wants to dominate—through the federal government—America socially, culturally, spiritually, and economically. It is clear that the president believes that the government made America great. He is so wrong. People made American great—ordinary people, doing extraordinary things. . . . I was very disappointed in his message, and I’ve been very disappointed in his record.” -Sen. Kennedy

House Republican, Steve Scalise (R-LA) is voicing his concerns, too, about the schooling issues… Saying quote:

“As a result of not being in the classroom with their peers, students are suffering severe mental health problems, and are dangerously falling behind other students. The CDC has made it clear that schools should safely reopen for in-person learning, yet the Biden administration has broken their promises to parents and has instead sided with the radical teachers’ unions to keep schools closed.”

At 3:30 on Thursday, April 29, Governor Edwards is going to give his remarks on the President’s American Rescue Plan. We will live stream that on our website digital-stage.wgno.com.