tim scott In this June 17, 2020, photo, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C ., speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.

President Joe Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday. Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, delivered the GOP rebuttal. “Our best future won’t come from Washington schemes or socialist dreams, ” Scott said. See more narratives on Insider’s business sheet.

Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, delivered the GOP’s response to President Joe Biden’s firstly address to a seam discussion of Congress on Wednesday evening.

The South Carolina senator delivered his observes following Biden’s pronunciation, during which the president laid out a recovery plan for the US and celebrated the progress that had been acquired in the COVID-1 9 pandemic.

In his response, Scott, a rising star who has served in the Senate since 2013, said Biden’s speech was “full of good words” but that he hasn’t delivered on his promise to unite Americans.

“Our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes, ” Scott said, adding that the president’s any measures were gathering us further apart.

He admired Republicans and President Donald Trump for progress made during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it should be a “joyful springtime for our nation” because “this administration acquired a tide that had already turned.”

Read more: These 10 power players are shaping the debate over police reform in DC following the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin

“Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump Administration, our country is spate with safe and efficient vaccines. Thanks to our bipartisan job last year, enterprise openings are rebounding, ” he said.

He likewise praised academy closures and promoted school choice.

“Locking vulnerable boys out of the classroom is locking adults out of their future. Our public academies should have reopened months back, ” he said. “Other countries did. Private and religious academies did. Discipline has been demonstrated for months that academies are safe.”

Scott too blamed Democrat for not working with Republicans on Biden’s coronavirus stimulus and infrastructure strategy. He emphasized the importance of finding common ground, especially in regard to race.

“I have experienced the tendernes of all forms of discrimination. I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason, to be followed around a accumulate while I’m shop, ” he said. “I’ve also experienced a different kind of intolerance. I get announced Uncle Tom and the n-word by progressives, by liberals.”

Scott observed his work in Congress on police reform but accused Democrats of not being interested in working for a answer. He also said it was “backward to fight discrimination with more discrimination.”

“Today, children are being taught that the color of their bark defines them again, and if they gaze a certain way they’re an autocrat, ” he said. “America is not a racist country.”

On the economy, Scott said Republicans had created the “most all-inclusive economy in my lifetime, ” citing low-toned employment rates among Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans, as well as women.

“Our best future won’t come from Washington schemes or socialist dreams, ” he said.

“It will come from you – the American parties, ” he said, praising the US as “the country where my grandfather in his 94 times assured his family go from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”

On Tuesday, Scott spoke with reporters about how he was preparing for his speech.

“You figure out who your public is, you figure out what you want to say and you try and find a way to say it well, ” Scott said, The Associated Press reported. “And you bent into who you are.”

Ahead of the addres, Scott sent out a fundraising plea on behalf of the members of the Republican National Convention, CNN’s DJ Judd reported. The email took on a pointedly harsher tone.

“Joe Biden does not believe in the promise of America, and nothing he says tonight can change that, ” Scott said during the email said. “Make no mistake; if Patriotic Americans, like yourself, sit on the sidelines, Joe Biden will be able to replace the American Dream with a socialist nightmare.”

Scott’s address came amid increased scrutiny of the police in the US. During Biden’s discussion, the president counselled Congress to pass a police reform proposal. Scott is the lead Republican engaging in talks over reform in the Senate.

He sponsored the Senate’s 2020 patrolling bill which focused on improving data collection on police misconduct and expanding de-escalation training for police. The greenback did not receive the 60 votes needed, falling short by five.

Have a information tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis @insider. com.

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