(The hill) — The White House hit Alabama Sen. Katie Britt (R) on Thursday for her positions on the bipartisan border deal and reproductive rights issues after his response on the State of the Union.
Britt, in his response, criticized President Biden for the situation at the southern border of the United States, for high prices at grocery stores and gas stations and for crime in the cities.
“President Biden’s border policies are a disgrace, this crisis is despicable, and the truth is that it is almost entirely preventable,” she said.
The White House called her out for her opposition to the bipartisan border agreement, negotiated by a group of senators and approved by the White House. Biden accused Republicans in his Thursday speech of rejecting that legislation, calling on them to pass it.
“Last month, Senator Britt sided with President Biden, the Border Patrol Union, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in opposing the toughest bipartisan border deal in modern history – by voting with fentanyl traffickers instead,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
He also noted that Britt’s home state of Alabama was at the forefront of abortion after the state Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children, which led to the closure of several in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics. In her speech, Britt said she supports IVF.
“Furthermore, because an extreme Supreme Court ruling overturned Roe v. Wade and set American women back nearly 50 years – with the support of Senator Britt – Alabama women were simply cut off IVF treatment and dreamed of expanding their family,” Bates said.
Bates also criticized Republicans, after Britt’s response, for wanting to repeal Biden’s inflation reduction law and for not providing additional aid to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.
“Tonight, the American people heard President Biden’s vision for a future in which our fundamental freedoms are restored, the middle class is the center of our economy, and our nation is more secure; not an America dragged backward by extremists whose only economic principle is that the rich come first and everyone else is left behind,” Bates said.
“Senator Britt has just proven all his points,” he added.
Meanwhile, Britt, 42, hit Biden, 81, for being a “permanent politician” and for being in office longer than she was alive.
