A senior Biden administration official was caught on camera butchering a popular phrase coined by the late former President Ronald Reagan about the federal government’s role in the everyday lives of Americans.
“As, I think it was President Reagan said, ‘We’re from the government. We’re here to help,'” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told those gathered at the Western Governors Association Winter Meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Monday.
The context of his comments centered on the federal government working with state governors on funding priorities related to education, but were drastically different from what Reagan actually said in his often cited quote, which he first uttered during a news conference on Aug.12, 1986.
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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, left, and the late former President Ronald Reagan, right. (Getty Images)
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,” Reagan said.
According to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, the former president’s comments referred “to how the government tends to be inefficient, to such a degree that instead of helping, it often causes harm instead.”
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Then-President Ronald Reagan speaks at a news conference on August 12, 1986, where he uttered the now-famous phrase, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” (Screenshot/ Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute)
“This view expresses the need for a more diminutive form of government where an individual or organization can complete an activity more effectively than the whole government,” it added, a stark contrast from the point Cardona appeared to be making.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Cardona for comment.
