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Your view: Stop dumbing down the English language

Was President Joe Biden laying out a bold new vision or breaking his pledge to be a bipartisan dealmaker? Depends on who you ask.
				While hardly surprising in a deeply polarized America, reaction from prominent Pennsylvanians to <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/1339101/america-is-rising-anew" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the president&rsquo;s Wednesday night speech</a> was decisively split along partisan lines &mdash; with the occasional flash of humor. Here is what those who represent our region and state had to say.
				Sen. Pat Toomey
				The Lehigh Valley Republican felt Biden&rsquo;s words &ldquo;have rung hollow,&rdquo; and raised concerns about &ldquo;a costly expansion of the welfare state.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;At his Inauguration, President Biden called for national unity while stressing that he would be a president for all Americans &#8211; not just those who supported him. To date, these words have rung hollow,&rdquo; Toomey said.
				&ldquo;The Biden White House has focused most of its energy on forcing through aspects of the left-wing wish list, either by executive order or partisan legislation, while stonewalling most Republican ideas and input. Tonight&rsquo;s announcement of a new, dramatic, and costly expansion of the welfare state &#8211; paid for by massive tax increases &#8211; is yet another example of this hyper-partisan approach that the Biden administration has deployed since January.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I do not expect to agree with President Biden on most policy issues,&rdquo; Toomey added. &ldquo;But there are areas we can work together, including rebuilding our roads and bridges, expanding firearm background checks, and forging new free trade agreements. I have made this clear to the president and his team and I hope he will take me and other Republicans who have done the same up on our offers.&rdquo;
				Sen. Bob Casey
				Joe Biden and Bob Casey are both Democrats from Scranton, so it should probably not be surprising that the senator expressed support for what the president has said and done.
				&ldquo;Over nearly 100 days, President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris have worked to get the COVID-19 public health emergency under control, pass historic rescue legislation to provide relief for working families and lay out a vision for what &lsquo;building back better&rsquo; is all about,&rdquo; Casey said.
				&ldquo;During his address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden demonstrated that he and Democrats in Congress aren&rsquo;t done making progress for working families and children. In addition to continuing our work to defeat COVID-19, Congress has an obligation pass the American Jobs Plan in order to rebuild our roads and bridges, invest in high-speed broadband for all Americans and ensure that seniors, individuals with disabilities and workers benefit from a historic investment in home and community-based services, especially to help the more than 16,000 Pennsylvanians on waiting lists,&rdquo; Casey added.
				&ldquo;We must also pass the American Families Plan in order to provide economic security and opportunity to all working families. It includes a priority that I have worked on since I began serving in the U.S. Senate &mdash; investments in early learning and universal Pre-K. Early learning investments are essential to giving children a strong, smart start to their lives. When a child learns more earlier in life, they earn more later in our workforce,&rdquo; he said.
				&ldquo;Together, these plans are what will allow our country to build back better. In just 100 days, the Biden-Harris Administration and Democrats in Congress have laid a foundation for change that will transform the lives of our families and children. It&rsquo;s time to keep going,&rdquo; Casey concluded.
				Rep. Dan Meuser
				Meuser, R-Dallas, was critical of what he called &ldquo;an extreme, left-wing policy wish list that will raise taxes, stifle economic growth, and increase Americans dependence on the government.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Although I was not invited to President Biden&rsquo;s Joint Address tonight, I did attend his Inauguration where he promised his Administration would govern with unity and bipartisanship. However, in its first 100 days the Biden Administration has done everything but that, instead choosing a go-it-alone, my way or the highway approach to everything from the so-called &lsquo;Rescue Plan&rsquo; which was not focused on defeating the virus or economic recovery, to the crisis at our southern border, to his recent multi-trillion-dollar spending proposals,&rdquo; Meuser said.
				&ldquo;From his first day in office, President Biden issued dozens of executive orders that have raised energy prices, encouraged our adversaries, and created a catastrophe at the Mexican border. Further, the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats passed a partisan $1.9 trillion &lsquo;Covid relief&rsquo; bill, less than 10% of which was focused on actual Covid Relief,&rdquo; Meuser added.
				&ldquo;Combined with his $2.25 trillion Green New Deal &lsquo;Infrastructure&rsquo; plan, the $1.8 trillion &lsquo;American Families Plan&rsquo; introduced tonight would implement a nanny state that will cost taxpayers over $4 trillion. President Biden plans to pay for these progressive giveaways by raising taxes on millions of hard-working families and businesses large and small, many of whom have suffered tremendously over the last year,&rdquo; he continued.
				&ldquo;At a time when our nation and economy is in recovery, the idea of significant tax increases to pay for left-wing fantasies is an upside-down policy that will certainly not attract businesses, but only export American jobs. We should unite to revitalize our communities, expand broadband, fix our roads, bridges, highways, airports, and other gateways to growth and innovation, not exploit this opportunity to pass a $4 trillion one party wish list that will raise taxes, impose Green New Deal mandates, and add trillions to our national debt.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I was encouraged to hear the inspiring, thoughtful, and constructive response <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/1339133/republican-reaction-sc-sen-scott-seeks-to-credit-gop-for-joyful-springtime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered by Senator Tim Scott</a>, who highlighted the immense potential of our nation if we work together on a bipartisan basis to deliver targeted, commonsense solutions, on infrastructure and other priorities, for the hardworking men and women across America,&rdquo; Meuser concluded.
				Rep. Matt Cartwright
				The Moosic Democrat, whose district includes parts of Luzerne County, focused on what he saw as promises kept by the president and their party &mdash; and a vision for post-pandemic America.
				&ldquo;Democrats in Congress have worked with this administration to deliver on the key promise we made to the American people 100 days ago &#8211; that we would do more to beat this pandemic and ensure everyone&rsquo;s economic well-being. And since we passed the American Rescue Plan, we are seeing real progress on getting shots in arms, money in pockets, kids back in school and people back in jobs. Now that help is here, we are on a path to recovery, but our work in Congress is only just beginning,&rdquo; Cartwright said.
				&ldquo;President Biden this evening presented a vision for our nation where we don&rsquo;t just return to pre-pandemic normal, but usher in a new era where the United States truly is the land of opportunity for all. Millions of American working families have struggled for years with economic, child care and education challenges, and the pandemic has only made them worse,&rdquo; Cartwright added.
				&ldquo;We now have an opportunity to create good paying jobs, support families and give children a strong foundation for success in life in every part of the country. Together, the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan frameworks will guide us as we continue our mission to Build Back Better as one nation,&rdquo; he said.
				Gov. Tom Wolf
				A fellow Democrat, Pennsylvania&rsquo;s chief executive expressed support for Biden&rsquo;s plans based on how they will affect working families.
				&ldquo;The American Families Plan will break down barriers to success for low- and middle-income families. It will make crucial investments in the American people and pave the way for a sustained and equitable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,&rdquo; Wolf said.
				&ldquo;My administration has made major investments in education in Pennsylvania, and this plan will build on our successes to help ensure that every student has access to a high-quality, affordable education &#8211; one that will set them up for success in life and in the workforce. The American Families Plan invests in pre-K and community college and seeks to make college more affordable for low- and middle-income students,&rdquo; the governor added.
				&ldquo;The American Families Plan also calls for major investments that will help families thrive, including through providing high-quality child care at a price families can actually afford, establishing a paid family and medical leave program so all workers have access to sick days and paid leave, and improving access to healthy, nutritious food for children and families,&rdquo; Wolf said.
				&ldquo;Much like my budget plan for Pennsylvania this year, the American Families Plan makes these crucial investments at the same time that it extends and expands tax cuts for low- and middle-income individuals and families, by implementing tax reform to close existing loopholes and ensure that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share,&rdquo; he continued.
				&ldquo;Thank you, President Biden, for putting the needs of working individuals and families first with the American Families Plan. This plan invests in a better future for American families, and will make a big difference for Pennsylvanians.&rdquo;
				Former Rep. Lou Barletta
				Just as Wolf compared his policies with Biden&rsquo;s, so did a man who may soon be vying to succeed the two-term governor.
				Barletta, a Hazleton Republican who is seen as a likely GOP contender for the state&rsquo;s top office, drew a much different comparison between Wolf and Biden, however, albeit without mentioning the governor by name.
				&ldquo;President Biden campaigned on unifying the country but he has already shown that he has no regard for bipartisanship and is governing as an extreme radical leftist,&rdquo; Barletta said Wednesday night.
				&ldquo;In Pennsylvania our small businesses have been decimated by draconian lockdowns, our schoolchildren have had a year of their education stolen from them, and our economy is bracing for an all-out assault on our natural resources industries,&rdquo; Barletta said, in clear reference to policies implemented by Wolf during the COVID-19 pandemic.
				&ldquo;Our southern border is in crisis because of Biden&rsquo;s reckless policies, meanwhile he&rsquo;s pushing an infrastructure package that has just about everything in it but infrastructure,&rdquo; Barletta added. &ldquo;In Pennsylvania we have to begin to take care of our own affairs and restore sanity and common sense to our government.&rdquo;
				Lt. Gov. John Fetterman
				Known for his one-liners and social media hot takes, Pennsylvania&rsquo;s Lieutenant Governor, a Democrat who has declared himself a candidate to replace the retiring Toomey in the U.S. Senate, tweeted a terse response to Biden&rsquo;s speech on Wednesday night.
				&ldquo;Man, I forgot how much I missed competency in the White House,&rdquo; Fetterman wrote, followed by a crying emoji.

Pa. leaders responses’ to Biden’s speech predictably split on party lines