Oklahoma Reps React To President Biden's State Of The Union Address

One day after President Joe Biden used a 73-minute address to the nation to tout the achievements of his first two years in office and urge Congress to help him “finish the job,” members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation are saying the speech missed the mark.

“Really, he didn’t talk about things that were important to Oklahomans,” said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) in an Interview late Tuesday night. “He didn’t really discuss the border, just touched on it briefly, he didn’t discuss high energy prices, or bringing down grocery prices.”

In the current political climate, it’s hard, if not impossible, to imagine Republicans praising a Biden State of the Union address -- or, for that matter, a Democrat praising a State of the Union by a Republican president. But Oklahoma’s members really didn’t care for last night’s speech, saying it was filled with falsehoods.

"I wish the president had really told the American people the truth," said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK1) in an interview immediately following the speech.

One of the biggest complaints surrounded the president's assertion that some Republicans had suggested possibly sunsetting Medicare and Social Security as part of a plan to cut federal spending.

The comment brought shouts of "Liar!" from the audience and condemnation from the state's newest congressman.

"That is wrong," said Rep. Josh Brecheen (r-OK2) in an interview Wednesday. "It’s not been something that is based on fact. I think it’s designed for pandering to fear, to move political will his direction, and it was theater."

Many in the Oklahoma delegation were waiting to hear what the president would say about border security and they were disappointed.

"He only spoke about immigration for about 30 seconds," said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). "It’s been a really big national issue and then to suddenly say we’re not gonna talk about this other than 30 seconds, and for him to say, give me more technology, that’ll solve the border, clearly that’s not the real issue."

Biden said, if Congress wants to solve the problems at the border, it's up to them to pass immigration reform.

"I’m not sure what Congress can do," said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5), "I mean, we’ve given lots of funding to help with border security, we’ve increased funding for border control -- this is really the president's issue."

On the debt ceiling, Biden insisted maintaining the full faith and credit of the nation can't be held hostage to budget cuts. But he did say, separately, he wanted to sit down next month with Republicans to discuss their respective spending plans.

"And for him to say that is great," said Rep, Hern, "but once again, we’ll see if he actually does that once he gets away from the lights and the microphone."