Far-right GOP lawmaker blames Biden for an increase in 'domestic violence-related homicides' in her state

When Democratic presidents are in office, some Republicans will go to ridiculous extremes to blame them for anything that goes wrong. The late radio host Rush Limbaugh, for example, blamed then-President Barack Obama for Michael Jackson's death in 2009 — and similarly, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina is blaming President Joe Biden for an increase in domestic violence in her state. And ironically, the far-right Republican did it while bragging about her vote against a bill designed to combat domestic violence.

Foxx, LGBTQ Nation reports, made the anti-Biden comments while voicing her opposition to the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021, which would amend federal domestic violence laws.

The 78-year-old congresswoman said, "COVID-19 and President Biden's failed economic policies have dealt our nation…. government-mandated restrictions and economic challenges. It appears those negative outcomes have snowballed to exacerbate an even worse fallout…. Evidence suggests that in this pandemic environment, stress due to work, school, substance abuse, and financial struggles have added to more violence in the home. Recent statistics show that domestic violence-related homicides have increased in my home state of North Carolina."

Foxx overlooked some important facts. The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis that Biden inherited from former President Donald Trump, who discouraged social distancing measures, held superspreader events and railed against wearing protective face masks. Biden, in contrast, has aggressively encouraged Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19, stressing that the sooner things get back to some degree of normal in the United States, the better off the country's economy will be.

LGBTQ Nation's Alex Bollinger notes that Foxx "did not say exactly which statistics she was referring to, but reporting by NC Health News showed that reports of domestic violence in North Carolina increased dramatically in 2020 over 2019, before Biden became president."

Playing the culture war card, Foxx also attacked the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021 as anti-religion — telling fellow lawmakers, "The bill also tramples the rights of faith-based providers by forcing organizations to abandon their sincerely held religious beliefs or give up helping victims through these programs."

Foxx served in the North Carolina State Senate during the 1990s, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 and chaired the House Education Committee in 2017 and 2018.