Congressman Johnson's Weekly Update

MARIETTA, OH — Here is the latest news release from Southeastern Ohio's duly elected U.S. Congressman Bill Johnson.

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The images and videos we've seen out of Afghanistan are sad, infuriating, and embarrassing. It didn't have to be this way. Nearly 27 years in the US Air Force taught me that leadership requires a full understanding of the threat and how circumstances may change based on perceived or anticipated military action by our adversaries. President Biden and his national security team completely failed this crucial leadership test and he needs to apologize and acknowledge his grave missteps.

The cold reality is that Joe Biden is a career Washington politician who’s been inside the DC Beltway for half a century and has zero other real-world career experience…and he’s in over his head. An Obama Administration senior cabinet member once said (correctly) President Biden’s been wrong on EVERY major foreign policy issue over the last 40 years. He’s never really solved problems, never served in the military, and has never signed the front side of a paycheck. He’s also never been called to account, never been a real leader, and hasn’t had to answer direct questions - until now. And that’s only happening because even the liberal mainstream media can’t brush this disaster under the rug. President Biden’s foreign policy legacy of failures is intact, it’s on full display, and now the world is seeing his true colors and shortcomings in real-time. In the very limited remarks he has given since he orchestrated this disaster, he continues to refuse to take responsibility. I've heard people make comparisons about the current conditions in Afghanistan to the infamous Bay of Pigs disaster under President Kennedy, the April 1975 scenes in Saigon under President Nixon, and the Benghazi Embassy disaster under President Obama...but, those comparisons are inaccurate. This situation is far worse, as some 10 thousand American lives and thousands of more Afghanis who helped us are at serious risk.

This is the worst military strategic planning and operational/tactical execution failure in modern American history. The primary role of the Secretary of Defense (General Austin) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (General Milley) is to give critical national security advice and counsel to the President of the United States. If this is their idea of advice and counsel, they have failed the President and the American people and should apologize and resign immediately. If not, and if they told President Biden there was a better way to accomplish our withdrawal from Afghanistan, then they need to be honest with the American people…they have a moral obligation to tell the truth about Joe Biden’s incompetence.

I ask everyone to join me in praying for the American troops in harm’s way in Afghanistan and the innocent people — particularly women and girls — who now lay in the destructive path of the evil Taliban.

The Never-Ending War on Coal

Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are attempting to end America’s reliance on coal-fired electricity generation once and for all with their breathtakingly reckless $3.5 trillion spending bill that will include their Green New Deal priorities. Their goal is to shut down coal mining in America for good, dismantle reliable and cost-effective coal-fired power generation plants, and destroy all the well-paying jobs that go with it. The way to ensure Americans have reliable and affordable electricity, and the way to help miners and struggling coal communities maintain a quality of life is to keep coal-fired plants open and operating. Unfortunately, the radical left is doing everything it can to end the use of fossil fuels…and they’re doing it at the cost of American energy independence, good-paying jobs, and destroyed communities. I’ll continue fighting for these American jobs, reliable, affordable electricity, and for American energy independence.

Thanks to Fox Business for covering the latest attack on coal and hardworking coal miners; the news channel was on the ground at a mine in Harrison County this week.

OMEGA Legislative Meeting

I traveled to Guernsey County this week for an Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association (OMEGA) meeting. OMEGA serves 10 Ohio counties: Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Muskingum, & Tuscarawas. The organization’s main objective is facilitating a cooperative effort in planning, development, and implementation of local and regional plans, programs, and projects – essentially connecting communities to resources. And, it is doing a great job. OMEGA is a true asset for Eastern Ohio!

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This news release was issued by Congressman Bill Johnson's office. Any opinions expressed within are the author's own.

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