U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, released the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address.

 “Here’s the unvarnished truth as I see it: President Biden has mismanaged Covid. President Biden has mismanaged the economy. President Biden has opened up our southern border, and President Biden has sent inflation sky-high. President Biden has forfeited America’s energy independence. President Biden’s Justice Department has treated caring parents like criminals, while his tolerance for the Defund the Police movement has helped turn our cities and our streets over to criminals. President Biden has mismanaged Afghanistan, and I pray he doesn’t mismanage Russia’s war of aggression

“And tonight, I heard President Biden say that he aims to stay the course. Isn’t that just like Washington, D.C.? Figure out what doesn’t work, and keep doing it.

“For Louisiana families, that’s bad news. It’s bad news at work. It’s bad news at the grocery store. It’s bad news at home, and it’s bad news at the gas pump. It’s bad news for the education of our children. It’s bad news for the security of our country.

“American sovereignty and national security depend on America’s energy independence. We know that. That’s not a startling realization—that’s just a known fact that we all understand. And that depends, in part, on Louisiana’s oil and natural gas resources—resources that this president continues to ignore. He also continues to ignore the good jobs that oil and gas create.

“Right now, the Biden administration doesn’t seem to accept or address the reality of a new Axis of Evil. China and Russia’s de facto alliance anchors a group of bad actors—of outlaws, of tyrants—that are getting bolder and more aggressive every day.

“Because of the president’s own policies at home and abroad, inflation continues to surge at the grocery store—we know that—and at the gas pump, and at the clothing store, and everywhere, and I didn’t hear a solution from him tonight. He still wants to spend more and borrow more.

“What President Biden doesn’t want to do is secure our border. I didn’t hear a plan for doing that tonight, either. We don’t know who’s coming across our border into our country. We have absolutely no idea, and President Biden doesn’t seem to care about the drug or human trafficking that rage on.

“Meanwhile, our kids—we’re only as valuable as our children, folks—our kids are falling behind because their schools were closed for far too long. The president did a whole lot more to intimidate parents than to get teachers back in the classroom.

“A better future for these kids and for all Americans demands principled, clear-eyed, tough leadership, and I hope the American people see some soon.”