President Joe Biden took direct aim at far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert on Wednesday when he talked up his legislative accomplishments during a visit to her Colorado district.
Biden's remarks came after he toured a wind tower manufacturer in Pueblo that recently announced an expansion that the White House said was a direct result of the Inflation Reduction Act — a signature part of the president's economic agenda.
“She along with every single Republican colleague voted against the law that made these investments and jobs possible, and that’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact. And then she voted to repeal key parts of this law, and she called this law a massive failure," Biden said before quipping, "You all know you’re part of a massive failure?"
Biden also renewed criticism of his predecessor and "MAGA Republicans," adding House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., into that group.
"The speaker, Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans here in Congress committed to protecting their outrageous tax cuts for those at the very top, and they're going to continue to oppose investing in all those programs that help people, whether it's in education, health care, whatever," Biden said. "I have a different view."
Ahead of the trip, the White House contrasted the administration’s manufacturing and clean energy investments with Boebert’s politics, arguing in a document that “self-described MAGA Republicans like Representative Lauren Boebert continue to undermine their constituents by trying to block the President’s agenda.”
At a campaign event Tuesday night in Colorado, Biden criticized Boebert by name and other Republicans who voted against legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to a pool report.
Boebert in a statement Wednesday criticized the president, claiming that families in her district are “being crushed by so-called ‘Bidenomics.’”
“On his watch, credit card debt, inflation, groceries, and gas prices have all reached record highs. These high prices are squeezing working class Coloradans and rural America,” she said. “Rather than cutting wasteful federal spending and unleashing American energy production, Joe Biden continues to pander to radical extremists, lock up more land, and spend his time focused on campaign stunts and vacations rather than doing the job he was elected to do.”
Boebert decried the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed earlier in Biden's presidency and has featured prominently in some of his speeches across the nation. She argued that the legislation has “mandated Green New Deal policies” that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, and called on Biden to help her with passing the Pueblo Jobs Act that she introduced in April.
Biden had planned to make the trip to Boebert's district in October, but it was postponed after war broke out between Israel and Hamas.
Boebert, a Trump ally who is a frequent critic of Biden and his administration, introduced articles of impeachment against Biden in June over his handling of the border. The House did not vote on the measure.
The White House has frequently contrasted the administration's agenda with that of far-right Republicans. Biden previously promoted a solar panel manufacturer's expansion plans in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's district in Georgia, and it has slammed "extreme MAGA Republicans" in speeches and called "MAGA" a "threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions."
Biden won Colorado in 2020 with 55.4% of the vote, compared to former President Donald Trump’s 41.9%.
Boebert was re-elected to a second term last year by the slimmest of margins — beating her Democratic opponent in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District by just over 500 votes.
