While newly inaugurated presidents don’t give official state of the union speeches — having been given the keys to the union too recently ...
While newly inaugurated presidents don’t give official state of the union speeches — having been given the keys to the union too recently to have much to substantively say about its state — no good politician can resist tying up national network airtime for a few hours to prattle on about their agenda. And thus did President Joe Biden give a “joint address” to Congress last April, a not-really-state-of-the-union state of the union.
In fairness, though, you would have been forgiven for thinking you’d tuned into the most boring episode ever of “The Price is Right.” Although, boy, were there some expensive prizes involved — trillions of spending for pandemic recovery, jobs, infrastructure, stuff the Democrats like to call infrastructure but isn’t really, renewable energy, electric cars, that sort of thing.
“The American Jobs Plan will create millions of good-paying jobs – jobs Americans can raise their families on,” Biden told his country, according to a USA Today transcript of the speech. “And all the investments in the American Jobs Plan will be guided by one principle: ‘Buy American.’ American tax dollars are going to be used to buy American products made in America that create American jobs. The way it should be.”
“We’re in a competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century,” he said at one point. “We have to do more than just build back. We have to build back better.”
“There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing. No reason why American workers can’t lead the world in the production of electric vehicles and batteries.”
That’s what members of Congress heard coming from President Biden’s mouth. Meanwhile, here’s what was on the mouths of members of Congress:
KN95 masks, with “Made in China” clearly printed on them. “You can’t make it up,” GOP North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry tweeted.
It’s almost a year later. Unfortunately — even with the White House pushing a free N95 and KN95 mask program for Americans, and with tensions with China at heightened levels — nobody in a position to do anything about masking at the Capitol seems to be almost a year wiser.
Last Thursday, Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich tweeted this:
“KN95 masks supplied to lawmaker offices by the Office of the Attending Physician… are stamped ‘MADE IN CHINA,'” Heinrich tweeted. “Some members aren’t happy.”
“The Capitol Attending physician recently ordered masks be upgraded to N95 or KN95’s bc of Omicron… they’re required on the House floor.”
In a follow-up, Heinrich noted: “One lawmaker tells me, ‘You have 435 Members of the US House wearing ‘Made in China’ stamped on their face.'” (According to Roll Call, as of July of 2021, mask mandates were reinstated on the floor of the House of Representatives, as well as in the White House. In the Senate, they’re strongly encouraged.)
And by the same manufacturer, too — Powecom. That’s advertising money can’t buy.
And, yes, Republican representatives were unhappy.
“As usual, Speaker Pelosi fails to recognize the senseless optics of her own decision-making,” said Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina, according to Fox News.
“We are fighting a virus that came from China, yet the speaker is comfortable with publicly supporting a Chinese manufacturer, sending our taxpayer dollars overseas and further advertising our dependency on China … on the faces of Congress.
GOP Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio — head of the House GOP Doctors Caucus — said it was evidence America’s “insecure supply chain presents a much greater risk to our overall national health.”
“The fact that the masks we are mandated to wear in the U.S. Congress are made in China is just one example of our inabilities to protect and treat Americans without relying on adversaries,” Wenstrup said, according to Fox. “These Chinese masks further highlight our need to divest away from the [Chinese Communist Party]. Our national security and our health depend on it.”
It isn’t just national security and health, either. In the propaganda war over COVID-19, China has been using its manufacture of testing supplies and personal protective equipment to buttress its image.
On Friday, the Global Times — Beijing’s English-language version of Pravda during Soviet times, except with lower journalistic standards — bragged that “Chinese test kit, mask manufacturers still relied on to fill US supply gaps.”
The piece highlighted the Biden administration’s promise to send COVID tests directly to Americans, a plan that has seen considerable delays.
According to the Global Times, the Department of Health and Human Services gave a $1.28 billion contract for tests to iHealth Labs, the American subsidiary of Chinese company Andon Health.
“The contract involved is our subsidiary in the U.S., but our production is in Tianjin in North China,” a source from Andon told the propaganda rag. “Our company produces this kit, and has been approved by the (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization.”
The Global Times’ writer noted — with a Cheshire grin, no doubt — that there was a renewed push for COVID masks and testing supplies because “the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has added more pressure on the Biden administration to handle the runaway virus situation in the US.”
Over the past year, the Democrats searched for a way the U.S. taxpayer could ensure those wind-turbine blades would be “built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.” They’ve also leaned heavily on masking and know the importance of COVID-19 testing.
For whatever reason, though, they couldn’t find the time to ensure the N95s Congress is wearing have “Made in Pittsburgh” printed on the front.
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