Pres. Biden declares “America is rising anew”; Scott delivers GOP response

(AP) — President Joe Biden declares “America is rising anew” as he calls for an expansion of federal programs to drive the economy past the coronavirus pandemic and broadly extend the social safety net on a scale not seen in decades. Biden’s first nationally televised address to Congress on Wednesday raised the stakes for his ability to sell his plans to voters of both parties, even if Republican lawmakers prove resistant. The Democratic president is following the speech by pushing his proposals in person, beginning in Georgia on Thursday and then on to Pennsylvania and Virginia in the days ahead.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott is accusing Democrats of tearing the country apart and suggesting they’re wielding race as “a political weapon.” The South Carolina senator delivered his party’s official response to President Joe Biden’s maiden speech to Congress on Wednesday. And he used it to credit the GOP for leading the country out of its pandemic struggles and toward a hopeful future. But Scott saved his sharpest words for the fraught subject of race, saying the U.S. is not a racist nation and suggesting Democrats use the issue as a political weapon.