包括议长凯文·麦卡锡在内的众议院共和党人高层周三为他们的议员辩护质问总统乔·拜登并在周二晚上称他为“骗子”国情咨文。
虽然当晚拜登提到南部边境和芬太尼危机时，共和党爆发了，但当拜登提到债务上限僵局时，他说“一些共和党人”建议社会保障和医疗保险计划每五年“日落”一次，作为佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特去年提出的削减成本计划的一部分，但没有得到共和党领导层的支持。
"所以，伙计们，我们显然都同意，社会保障和医疗保险现在不在账本上，对吗?"拜登在共和党人抗议时说道，利用了这一时刻的政治优势。“好吧。我们取得了一致意见。”
周三早上，众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯(Steve Scalise)对美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)的加布·费里斯(Gabe Ferris)的指责不屑一顾，称共和党人有理由称拜登为骗子，因为他声称拜登在撒谎。
麦卡锡说过类似的话福克斯新闻频道“嗯，总统试图刺激成员，成员们对此充满热情——但总统说的一件事是他知道不是真的。”
2023年2月7日，众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡在DC国会大厦出席乔·拜登总统的国情咨文。
Evelyn Hockstein/路透社
“我以前已经说过很多次了:社会保障和医疗保险是不可能的。他试图利用这一点作为政治策略，”麦卡锡说。“我们需要变得聪明。他试图在债务上限问题上玩弄政治，不进行谈判，对我们的立场撒谎...我们需要变得聪明。不要上钩。”
当拜登说一些共和党人考虑削减这些项目时，共和党众议员马乔里·泰勒·格林。，反复大喊“骗子!”从密室的后面。麦卡锡摇摇头，轻轻地嘘了他的成员。
格林告诉美国有线电视新闻网，拜登“罪有应得”，她说，“我一点也不抱歉”，她不认为“麦卡锡议长对我们任何人感到不满。”
尽管麦卡锡在拜登讲话前警告她和其他共和党成员，麦克风很热，摄像机开着，格林还是爆发了。他还说，他的政党遵循“道德准则”，不会参与“像撕毁演讲稿这样的幼稚游戏”，这里指的是前众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)在2020年国情咨文演讲后撕掉了时任总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)准备好的演讲稿。
这些时刻已经成为十年来政治格局发生多大变化的例证。
相比之下，在2009年，在南卡罗莱纳州共和党众议员乔·威尔森喊出一句著名的“你撒谎!”在前总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)就医疗保健发表讲话期间，其他共和党人迫使他道歉，当时民主党控制的众议院投票正式指责他，称他的评论“违反了礼仪，降低了联席会议的程序，有损众议院的声誉。”
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔赞扬了拜登的表现，并似乎很高兴在周三飞往威斯康星州的空军一号上与记者讨论了起哄问题。
“我们谈过分屏，对吗?你从总统身上看到了这一点，你也看到了共和党人的所作所为——嘲笑和以美国人不想要的方式行事。"期中考试后，他们非常明确地告诉我们他们想要什么。"
让-皮埃尔为拜登辩护，称他没有因共和党对社会保障和医疗保险的评论而感到愤怒，他说，总统迫使他们在国家舞台上“进行辩护”。
她说:“多年来，共和党核心小组的成员一再试图削减医疗保险和社会保障，将其私有化，提高退休年龄。”“他们实际上已经就此进行了投票，并把它放在了砧板上。这就是我们多年来看到他们所做的。他们总是试图用他们的嘴来说话。”
她特别提到了参议员李政颖。犹他州共和党人反对拜登的言论，指出社交媒体上流传着他在2010年说他想彻底撕毁医疗保险和社会保障的视频。
“我们昨晚看到的是一个总统在召集成员，对吗?”让-皮埃尔补充道。“当我们谈论嘲笑和他们如何回应时，他在电视直播中，在数百万美国人面前，大声疾呼，并有效地让他们进行辩护。我们就是这么做的。总统就是这么做的——让他们防守。”
不管共和党人的反应有多激烈，拜登把这个晚上当成了一场胜利。
当被问及他对周二晚上离开会议厅时的吵闹有何看法时，拜登告诉美国广播公司新闻节目“威尔·斯皮丁，吵闹?我认为这是一个很好的接待，”他笑着说。
GOP leaders defend members calling Biden a 'liar' during State of the Union
Top House Republicans, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, on Wednesday defended their members forheckling President Joe Bidenand calling him a "liar" during Tuesday night'sState of the Union address.
While the evening saw GOP outbursts when Biden mentioned the southern border and fentanyl crisis, the shouts of "liar" happened when Biden, referring to the debt ceiling standoff, said "some Republicans" had proposed Social Security and Medicare programs be "sunset" every five years for renewal as part of a cost-cutting plan put out by Florida Sen. Rick Scott last year, but not endorsed by GOP leadership.
"So, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare off the books now, right?" Biden said as Republicans protested, taking political advantage of the moment. "All right. We got unanimity."
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise dismissed the shouting to ABC News' Gabe Ferris on Wednesday morning, saying that Republicans were justified calling Biden a liar because, he claimed, he was lying.
McCarthy said similar onFox News, "Well, the president was trying to goad the members, and the members are passionate about it -- but the one thing that the president was saying was something that he knew was not true."
"I've said it many times before: Social Security and Medicare are off the table. He tries to use that for a political ploy," McCarthy said. "We need to be smart. He's trying to play politics with the debt ceiling, by not negotiating, by lying about our position ... We need to be smart. Don't take the bait."
When Biden said that some Republicans considered cutting those programs, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., repeatedly yelled, "Liar!" from the back of the chamber. McCarthy shook his head and lightly shushed his members.
Saying, "I am not sorry one bit," Greene told CNN Biden "got exactly what he deserved," and that she didn't think "Speaker McCarthy is upset with any of us."
Greene's outburst came despite McCarthy warning her and other GOP members, before Biden's speech, that the mics were hot and cameras were on. He also said his party follows a "code of ethics" and wouldn't participate in "childish games like tearing up a speech," a reference to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up a copy of then-President Donald Trump's prepared remarks after the 2020 State of the Union address.
The moments have become illustrations for how much the political landscape has changed in a decade.
In contrast, in 2009, after South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson famously shouted, "You lie!" during former President Barack Obama's address on health care, other Republicans pressured him to apologize and the Democratic-controlled House at the time voted to formally rebuke him, saying his comment was a "breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre applauded Biden's performance and seemed happy to discuss the heckling with reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday en route to Wisconsin.
"We talked about the split screen, right? You saw that from the president, and you saw what the Republicans were all about -- jeering and behaving in a way that again, Americans don't want," she said. "They told us very clearly after the midterms what they wanted."
Jean-Pierre defended Biden from GOP outrage over his comment on Social Security and Medicare, saying that the president forced them to go "on defense" on a national stage.
"Members of the Republican caucus, have repeatedly, repeatedly, for many, many years, tried to cut Medicare and Social Security, to privatize it, raise the retirement age," she said. "They've actually voted on that and put it on the chopping block. That's what we've seen them do for years. And they always tried to speak out of both sides of their mouths."
She specifically called out Sen. Mike Lee. R-Utah, for his objection to Biden's remarks, noting there was video circling social media of him saying in 2010 he wanted to tear Medicare and Social Security out by the roots.
"What we saw last night was a president who called out members, right?" Jean-Pierre added. "As we're talking about jeering and how they were responding, he called out members out on live television, in front of millions of Americans and effectively put them on the defense. That's what we did. That's what the president did -- put them on the defense."
Regardless of the raucous response from Republicans, Biden took the night as a win.
Asked what he thought of the rowdiness when leaving the chamber Tuesday night, Biden told ABC News' Will Steakin, "Rowdy? I thought it was a nice reception," he said, with a smile and laugh.
