Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Sunday said President Biden “had a bad year” and needs to stop, reset his priorities and direct his energy toward fighting inflation and COVID-19 while building on the type of bipartisanship that produced his win on infrastructure.
Mr. Romney, a Republican, said the White House never reached out to him on voting rights even though he is the type of GOP member who might be open to an overhaul.
As it stands, Democrats are struggling to get their partisan bills across the finish line because a pair of Senate centrists want to uphold filibuster rules. And Republicans were enraged after Mr. Biden used fiery rhetoric evoking the Confederacy to criticize opponents of the Democrats’ plan.
“He’s got to recognize that when he was elected, people were not looking for him to transform America. They were looking to get back to normal. To stop the crazy,” Mr. Romney told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And it seems like we’re continuing to see the kinds of policy and promotions that are not accepted by the American people.”
Mr. Romney said Democrats tend to characterize Mr. Biden’s recent performance as a series of bad weeks instead of a bigger problem.
“He’s had 52 weeks of bad weeks. I mean, people are 7% poorer now because of Biden inflation. Gasoline prices are, what, 50% higher than they were when he took office,” Mr. Romney said. “The border is a mess. COVID was resurgent but he didn’t have in place the tests people needed to keep themselves safe. And then, of course, there was a disaster in Afghanistan. Russia is now threatening Ukraine.”
SEE ALSO: Romney: Biden botched election reform by not talking to centrist Republicans
Mr. Romney said Mr. Biden should take a breath and determine what he wants to accomplish.
“And if it’s to try and transform America, he is not going to unite us,” the senator said. “Bringing us together means finding a way to work on a bipartisan basis. He had one success, the infrastructure bill, and that was done by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate working together. Build on that kind of success.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.