'A Legacy of Incompetence': House Oversight Committee Holds Hearing on Biden-Harris Policy Failures

Mia Cathell reporting for Townhall 

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing Thursday, titled "A Legacy of Incompetence," on the consequences of the Biden-Harris administration's policy failures.

As Rebecca covered, ahead of the hearing, the committee's chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) released a damning memorandum detailing how record-high inflation, the worst border crisis in American history, and current chaos on the global stage can all be traced back to disastrous decisions made by the Biden-Harris administration.

Comer kicked off the four-hour House hearing with a scathing opening statement lambasting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for fueling "crisis after crisis" in this country.

"Three and a half years ago, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, they promised to 'Build Back Better.' The fawning media told us that 'The adults are back in the room.' But three and a half years later, the economy is suffering, the border is broken, and crises continue to erupt worldwide," Comer said. "Everything Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have touched has failed. Americans are asking themselves, 'What is better?' The evidence of President Biden and Vice President Harris' incompetent and weak leadership is seen and felt by Americans across our nation."

Honing in on the inflation-ravaged U.S. economy, Comer noted that Harris has claimed repeatedly that "Bidenomics is working" and is "a term we are very proud of."

"Yet Americans have faced 20 percent average inflation since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office. The price of everything has gone up. More Americans are now having to choose whether to pay their energy bill, pay rent, or buy food," Comer countered. "They signaled to the world our border was open. The Biden-Harris administration grossly mismanages the very government programs they champion. American taxpayers—who are already struggling with sky-high inflation—are on the hook to pay for the Biden-Harris administration's boondoggles. How is this record something to be proud of?"

The Republican-led congressional committee called on several expert witnesses with backgrounds in border security, economics, energy policy, government operations, national security, and international affairs to testify about how the Biden-Harris administration's policies have "wasted billions in taxpayer funds, damaged America's international credibility, jeopardized U.S. energy production, and hurt Americans' pocketbooks."

Specifically, Comer highlighted how the Biden-Harris administration has spent billions of taxpayer dollars on a broadband infrastructure initiative with "nothing to show for it" after three years of its enactment.

Comer asked Brendan Carr, commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, "Who is primarily to blame for the broadband connectivity program falling through? We spent all this money on broadband access, and I know my district needs that but no one is benefiting. What is the administration's role in that?"

Carr explained that in 2021, Biden tapped Harris to implement the administration's signature $42 billion plan for expanding high-speed internet to millions of Americans. "It has now been 1,039 days since the $42 billion program was signed into law. After all of that time, not one person has been connected to the Internet with those dollars—not one home, not one business."

Instead, the Biden-Harris administration has "prioritized a progressive wish list of issues. They want to put DEI requirements in place. Price controls in place. This has delayed the program," which is supposed to close the digital divide, Carr said.

"All of this will leave rural and other unconnected communities behind," he added.

On the subject of border security, Center for Immigration Studies executive director Mark Krikorian explained that when Biden entered office, not only did he undo all the work the Trump administration accomplished, but he has undermined efforts that would deter illegal border crossings.

"President Biden did not simply reverse Trump-era border security policies, however," Krikorian said. "In a significant—if not tectonic—break from every one of its predecessors, the Biden-Harris administration has rejected any action that would deter illegal entrants as a border policy."

By refusing to detain illegal immigrants today, the administration is encouraging more aliens to illegally cross the border tomorrow, Krikorian said of the administration's open border messaging.

"The mass release from detention of people who have no right to be in the United States is the single biggest driver of subsequent illegal immigration," Krikorian continued. "In other words, someone who is thinking about immigrating to the United States and paying a smuggler a lot of money to do so is only going to do that if the odds of his succeeding, which is to say, being let go into the United States is high enough, and the mass release policies of this administration have, in fact, incentivized this entire border crisis that we've been facing."

Venturing further, Krikorian said the House hearing's title is wrong when it comes to illegal immigration: "Don't take this the wrong way, but with regard to immigration, the title of the hearing is a little bit misleading. The Biden-Harris record on immigration is the result of neither incompetence nor failure."

"The largest border crisis in the history of our country, probably the largest such event in human history, began on January 20, 2021 [the day of Biden's inauguration], on purpose, not due to incompetence," Krikorian declared.

Mandy Gunasekera, former chief of staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said that the corporate media and Democrats alike are "working overtime to re-write the truth of the Biden-Harris administration and their abysmal record of failures."

"From President Biden's promise to 'end all fossil fuels' alongside VP Kamala Harris' commitment to ban fracking Americans have suffered for over 3.5 years under their radical agenda," Gunasekera testified. "Since January 2021, President Biden and congressional democrats have taken over 250 different actions that make it harder to produce energy in America."

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) asked Gunasekera about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pushed burdensome regulations and environmental reviews to delay critical American energy production projects.

"Does the Biden-Harris administration's EPA use environmental impact assessments, and if you are trying to limit permit applications for drilling would this be a way of doing that?" Donalds questioned.

Gunasekera confirmed that "this is a tool that this administration has used. It is a way to keep important infrastructure improvements in bureaucratic purgatory."

"Would you argue that this administration is using these tools to slow walk energy projects?" Donalds pressed.

Gunasekera said the current administration is "an expert at using the federal government and weaponizing these processes to undermine key energy projects that we need."

Comer asked Gunasekera what America would look like if Harris is able to implement the Green New Deal.

"Well, we have a snapshot of what that would look like, because under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the agencies have been largely implementing pieces of the Green New Deal," she said. 

"Electricity prices [have gone] up most recently. Home heating oil is up 36 percent, electricity is up 32 percent, and natural gas is up 25 percent," Gunasekera elucidated. "This is all a direct result of policies coming from agencies run by the Biden-Harris officials/agencies enacting regulations that put the squeeze on these operations, inject politics, and manifest itself in increased prices on the American people, expanding financial burdens."

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) highlighted how excessive government spending has fueled high inflation.

"As I have said before, the Biden-Harris administration has managed to add $1.3 trillion in costs on Americans. What would be the impact of these costs on consumers?" she asked Gunasekera.

"It makes the price of everything go up. Regulatory costs are ultimately taken on by the consumer. At the end of the day, it means Americans are paying more for gas, electricity, and groceries at the store," Gunasekera replied.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said the Biden-Harris administration has failed on the international stage and their lack of leadership has emboldened foreign adversaries around the world.

"The Biden-Harris administration inherited a world at peace and turned it into a world at war," Mace said. "Our allies are under attack, adversaries are emboldened, and America embarrassed on the world stage. In fact, this administration was forced to evacuate seven embassies."

Meaghan Mobbs, director of the Center for American Safety and Security, testified: "Under the current administration, we have witnessed the largest attack on a European nation in 85 years and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Our enemies no longer view the United States as a nation ready to act with strength and resolve when confronted. Instead, they witnessed an administration more focused on diplomatic gestures and conciliatory measures, often at the expense of American security.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) highlighted how the U.S. is suffering from a military recruitment crisis because the Biden-Harris administration is focusing on woke military policies that prioritize DEI initiatives.

"Why is the military having a difficult time recruiting? Is there a difference in policies between this administration and others?" Perry asked Mobbs.

"This administration has focused more on initiatives of equity and inclusion. This administration spends time on individuality and one place we can't do that is in our military," Mobbs said.