The state of Joe Biden’s United States

By Brooke Rollins in The Washington Times

"President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address this week, and its theatrics proved a testament to his disastrous first year in office. Frightened by the twin specters of continued protests against draconian COVID-19 mandates and general American disapproval, his administration caused the United States Capitol to be ringed with new fencing — and they’ve put the National Guard on alert. Perhaps nothing synopsizes the capsizing vessel that is the Biden White House than this: They’re building a fortress around the seat of the American people’s government but refuse to protect our nation’s southern border."

Read the full op-ed in The Washington Times here.

373 Economists Agree: Build Back Better is Wrong for America

Since day one, the Biden Administration has misled the American people and promulgated empty promises through its Build Back Better agenda. From increasing taxes, the rising cost of everyday goods, and skyrocketing gas prices, it’s the American people who have taken the brunt of the Biden Administration’s economic policies. Bottom line: Build Back Better is wrong for America. — Brooke Rollins, President and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, and former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Trump 

When you measure the economists who are opposed to Build Back Better with the economists who support Build Back Better, there’s really no comparison.

AFPI’s letter was also signed by Omar Borla, Visiting Scholar at the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration at the University of Delaware.

A copy of The Wall Street Journal advertisement can be found here.

The State of America’s Security - Americans More Vulnerable Because of Biden’s Foreign Policy

Ahead of the 2022 State of the Union Address by President Biden, the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI’s) “2022 State of America” will discuss the real state of our union and how the current administration’s weak engagement with other nations has eroded America’s credible deterrence and has emboldened America’s adversaries in unprecedented ways. Indeed, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represents one of the most geopolitically consequential events in recent decades, with far-reaching ramifications both for how well America can expect to work with allies going forward and for how far adversaries will go in threatening the peace and security of the American people.

Right now, the world is watching in horror as Russia invades Ukraine. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the innocent civilians and families who are caught in the crossfire. Ukraine is a sovereign nation, and it was the world’s responsibility to prevent this invasion from happening. The Biden Administration’s failure to lead a global effort with NATO members to prevent hostilities in Europe is tragic, and this failure will certainly have ramifications for the American people. Read more about the Biden Administration’s failed foreign policy decisions and AFPI’s statements on Ukraine here.  

In 2022, the American people find their security more vulnerable and America’s geopolitical standing far weaker than at any point in recent history. That is the direct result of the decision by President Biden and his team to consistently endanger Americans during the withdrawal debacle from Afghanistan, to reward the terrorist Iranian regime with sanctions relief, and to ignore Communist China’s threats. Russian President Putin’s actions in Ukraine are the latest example of how President Biden’s approach can quickly become ‘America Lost’. The State of the Union, much like earlier addresses by President Biden on foreign policy issues, will, unfortunately, feature no explanations to the American people for his abdication of responsibility for immigration, national security, and other issues. — Lt. General (Ret.) Keith Kellogg, Co-Chair of AFPI’s Center for American Security and former National Security Advisor to President Trump and Vice President Pence. 

The state of American national security has seriously deteriorated after just one year of the Biden presidency. The Biden Administration has conveyed American weakness on a world stage through its unserious and incoherent foreign policy. Instead of promoting climate change strategy and entertaining nuclear deal talks with Iran, President Biden needs to restore an effective foreign policy strategy that defends America’s core interests and the prudent use of military force. — Fred Fleitz, Vice Chair of the Center for American Security and former Chief of Staff of the National Security Council under President Trump

AFPI’s Center for American Security champions an America First approach that ensures American power is used in the interest of the American people. It promotes actions such as: 

• Maintaining the America First tradition in the national security profession;
• Bolstering America’s economic might;
• Expanding America’s unrivaled military strength;
• Ending endless wars and making strategic foreign commitments;
• Securing our Nation’s borders;
• Eliminating global terrorists who threaten to harm Americans; and
• Reversing decades of Washington’s accommodation of Communist China. 

More information about the Center for American Security can be found here, and more information on AFPI’s foreign policy and national security priorities can be found here.

The State of America’s Safety – No Law and No Order

The devastating effects of soft-on-crime policies and dangerous rhetoric denigrating law enforcement, which have unleashed a crime wave across the country.

Americans deserve to live in safe communities. Liberal policies have allowed crime to run rampant and for criminals to rule the streets. Throughout this administration, we have seen the results of dangerous rhetoric that have created policies emboldening criminals and straining law enforcement. — Matthew Whitaker, Co-Chair of the Center for Law and Justice (CLJ)

By the Numbers:

12 major cities, including notable ones listed below, broke annual homicide rates this past year. Many worked to defund their police:

$15 million cut from Washington, D.C.’s police department

15% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2020

$16 million cut from Portland’s police department

                        63% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2020

$33 million cut from Philadelphia’s police department

                        11% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2020

$120 million cut from San Francisco’s police department

                        16% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2020

$150 million from Los Angeles’ police department

                        12% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2020

$1 billion cut from New York’s police department

                        52% increase in homicides in 2021 from 2019

Fortunately, many cities have begun to reverse course and have halted their efforts to eliminate law enforcement. But so much of this was avoidable, and many people who have suffered did not have to. Human trafficking is not being addressed by this administration. Not only have they not prioritized the issue like the Trump Administration, but they have exacerbated it through open borders policies – Pam Bondi, Co-Chair of the Center for Law and Justice

Among the founding pillars of the America First Policy Institute are law and order. AFPI’s CLJ team strives to advance the rule of law and freedom, the bedrocks of our Republic.

More information about the Center for Law and Justice’s policy proposals may be found here.

The State of America’s Economy - Americans Paying Dearly under President Joe Biden

I doubt the American people will hear much about it during the State of the Union, but Joe Biden’s presidency is costing people dearly. It costs Americans more for gasoline, groceries, and just about every other product. Americans are staring at empty store shelves and must be thinking ‘it wasn’t like that just a few short years ago.' Big government socialism has utterly failed. Americans are paying the price. — Larry Kudlow, Chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Prosperity, and former Director of the National Economic Council under President Donald J. Trump

Americans know the America First economic policies of the previous administration produced record job growth, growing paychecks, reduced gas and energy prices, and finally started to level the playing field so American workers and American companies could compete and win against global competition. For America to start winning again, we must make the historic Trump tax cuts permanent, restore America’s energy independence, and fight for free and fair trade deals that will restore the promise of putting American workers first. — Brooke Rollins, President and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, and former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Trump

What Americans are Paying for the Basics (When They Can Find Them):

• Gasoline                      +40%
• Beef                             +16%
• Chicken                       +10.3%
• Used Cars/Trucks         +40.5%
• New Cars                     +12%

Inflation is costing American families and workers hundreds of dollars.

• Moody’s Analytics, a “Wall Street” firm Biden loves to cite, found inflation is costing American families $250 per month.
• Biden’s favorite economist – Moody’s Mark Zandi – estimated last year the average American family was paying an extra $175 per month because of inflation.
• Last year, the Biden Administration’s anti-American energy agenda cost the average family a total of $1,000 according to the Heartland Institute.
• The Penn Wharton Budget Model found inflation cost the average American household $3,500 last year.

If Congress and the Biden Administration had advanced sound economic policies over the last year, Americans wouldn’t be forced to carry the heavy burden that comes with rising inflation.

The State of America’s Border and Security - Open Border Policies put Americans Last

The Biden administration’s failed border policies are tearing down the sovereignty of our Nation by giving cartels free rein of our border and incentivizing immigrants to cross illegally. It’s an unprecedented crisis that requires a deliberate enforcement strategy that produces results, rather than the status quo that has endangered border communities, law enforcement officers, and everyday Americans. We left the administration with a playbook of border and immigration security policies that worked. We need to return to a system that is effective along the border, and holds cartels, traffickers, and those choosing to break the law accountable, as well as stopping the dangerous practice of ‘catch and release. — Chad Wolf, Executive Director of AFPI and former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security

By the Numbers:

• 1.7 million illegal aliens apprehended in FY21, a 278% increase from FY20
• 339% more unaccompanied children encountered
• 80% decrease in deportations
• 50% less criminal aliens removed (with serious convictions)
• 1,935% increase in aliens with notices to appear (NTAs) released into the country
• 11,201 pounds of fentanyl seized at the border in FY21

Policy-makers must be elevating policies that protect Americans first. Those policies include finishing the border wall system, reassessing the successful Remain in Mexico program and Asylum Cooperative Agreements, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officer to do their job, and supporting border states and those governors who are on the front lines of this crisis.

One of the founding pillars of the America First Policy Institute is to properly secure the homeland. AFPI’s homeland security team is comprised of former members of the Trump Administration, who championed policies that protected the American people. American interests, and the American way of life.

The State of the American Dream – President Biden is Eroding Our Nation’s Values

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) analyzes the effects of the current administration’s policies on Americans’ dreams of equal access and opportunity. 

The Biden Administration has prioritized everything and everyone ahead of the American people. By putting the American people last and failing to perform his fundamental duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, President Biden is eroding the American dream. His policies on crime, immigration, the economy, and big government socialism are taking away our jobs, dignity, and lives. — Dr. Alveda King, AFPI Chair of the Center for the American Dream

The Biden Administration’s obsession with equity works against our founders’ mission of achieving equality of opportunity for all Americans. Its devotion to racial equity has undone decades of growth in historically disadvantaged communities. Supporting a revisionist teaching of America’s history and other bigoted ideas in our children’s schools is starting to raise the next generation with beliefs that are antithetical to our Nation’s values.

President Biden and his supporters should not forget that there is one race—the human race—and we ALL deserve dignity and respect as children of God. Americans cannot be a united nation without being made aware of their shared history and taught to be proud of our accomplishments.

America First policies produced significant gains for all Americans and historic results that started to break the chains of poverty. Under America First policies:

• Unemployment for Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Latino Americas reached historic lows;
• The Nation started addressing criminal justice reform through the bipartisan First Step Act.
• Opportunity Zones produced $52 billion in new investment to distressed communities that helped lift an estimated 1 million people out of poverty; and
• Substantial investments were made to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Information on how AFPI is restoring foundational American values and protecting the American Dream for all can be found here.