In a speech following President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott blamed the president — and the Democratic party at large — for pulling the country “further apart.” 

What You Need To Know

  • Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered the Republican party’s response to President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress on Wednesday night 

  • The senator first hammered the administration for its confusing guidance on school reopenings, as Biden’s White House continues to face criticism for failing to define and meet reopening goals 

  • Scott, who is the only Black Republican senator, also criticized Democrats for their lack of progress on police reform and for politicizing race

  • Scott’s own speech, coming in around 15 minutes, was markedly shorter than Biden’s hour-plus address 

“Our president seems like a good man," Scott said. His speech was full of good words."

“But our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes,” he continued. “We need policies and progress that bring us closer together. But three months in, the actions of the President and his party are pulling us further and further apart.”

Scott was selected to offer the Republican party’s rebuttal to Biden’s address, and he honed in on a number of the administration’s perceived failings. Scott’s own speech, coming in around 15 minutes, was markedly shorter than Biden’s hour-plus address. 

The senator first hammered the administration for its confusing guidance on school reopenings, a tactical move on the Republican’s part, as Biden’s White House continues to face criticism for failing to define and meet reopening goals. 

“Locking vulnerable kids out of the classroom is locking adults out of their future,” Scott said. “Our public schools should have reopened months ago. Other countries’ did. Private and religious schools did. Science has shown for months that schools are safe.”

It was a topic Biden largely avoided in his own speech, saying only: “Parents are seeing smiles on their kids’ faces as they go back to school because teachers and school bus drivers, cafeteria workers have been vaccinated.” 

Biden did, however, take credit for pulling the country out of the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, attributing increased vaccine distribution and a decline in COVID-related deaths to the passage of his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. 

Scott took issue with the president on a number of claims, saying the American Rescue Plan was a “partisan bill that the White House bragged was the most liberal bill in American history.” 

Scott also pointed to the previous administration’s Operation Warp Speed as setting the groundwork for many of Biden’s accomplishments. 

“This Administration inherited a tide that had already turned,” Scott said, adding: “Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump Administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines. Thanks to our bipartisan work last year, job openings are rebounding.”

Scott, who is the only Black Republican senator, also criticized Democrats for their lack of progress on police reform and for politicizing racial issues. The 55-year-old lawmaker has served as the lead GOP negotiator as the two parties seek an accord on legislation overhauling police procedures.

“In 2015, after the shooting of Walter Scott, I wrote a bill to fund body cameras,” Scott said. “Last year, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I built an even bigger police reform proposal. But my Democratic colleagues blocked it.” 

But Scott and Biden seemingly found common ground on the future for America, with both expressing hope and confidence for the years ahead. 

“So I am more than hopeful — I am confident — that our finest hour is yet to come,” Scott concluded, a perhaps unintentional echo of Biden’s own closing remarks. 

“I can say with absolute confidence: I have never been more confident or more optimistic about America,” Biden said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.