Rep. Malliotakis accepts invitation to Biden’s first congressional address

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rep. Nicole Malliotakis will attend President Joe Biden’s first joint congressional address on Wednesday, the congresswoman told the Advance/SILive.com.

Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) said she is “honored” to have been invited to the event. Invitations to the event are limited due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Biden’s Joint Session of Congress address will take place on Wednesday, April 28, at 9 p.m.

“During his inaugural address, President Biden spoke about uniting our nation and bringing Americans together to move our country forward,” Malliotakis said.

“Unfortunately, he and the other Democrats have yet to work in a bipartisan matter to pass legislation, but I’m hopeful that the president’s outreach is a signal of his willingness to work together on transportation and infrastructure investment, reinstating the SALT deduction and securing our nation’s borders,” she continued.

Malliotakis has been critical of the president’s time in office thus far, specifically that schools in all state and across every grade level are not yet back to full-time in-person instruction five days a week for every student. One of Biden’s campaign promises was that all schools would be open within the first 100 days of his presidency.

She has also criticized Biden’s absence from the humanitarian crisis at the border after she and other GOP members recently visited the Rio Grande Valley.

“The reality is that the president has given our borders over to the cartels,” Malliotakis said. “The policies that were put in place by Trump with Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico were repealed and the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy has been altered and that’s what caused this.’'

Malliotakis said the way out of this humanitarian crisis is to repeal Biden’s executive orders and reinstate Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program.

“More judges are needed to adjudicate these asylum cases – of which less than 10% are legitimate asylum needs – close the open areas where the cartels are trafficking drugs, guns, children and other nefarious activities and I think the federal government needs to look more into being proactive about how to stop the cartels,” she said when asked about what her policy suggestions would be to resolve the situation.