US President Joe Biden called on Republicans in his State of the Union address Tuesday night to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he sought to overcome pessimism in the country and overcome the political divisions in Washington.
The backdrop for the annual address was markedly different from the previous two years, with a Republican speaker sitting behind Biden and Republican lawmakers in the audience preparing to discuss both his administration and his policies. He tried to assure the nation that his stewardship of the country has delivered results both at home and abroad, as he too set out to prove his suitability for a probable re-election bid.
The challenges for Biden are many: economic uncertainty, a grueling war in Ukraine, rising tensions with China, and more. And signs of past trauma on Capitol Hill, particularly the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, were unavoidable, with a massive fence encircling the complex as lawmakers and attendees faced tighter-than-usual security measures. .
Instead of presenting flashy policy proposals, the president set out to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation’s condition, declaring that two years after the attack on the Capitol, America’s democracy was “unshakable and intact.”
“The story of the United States is a story of progress and resilience,” he said, noting record job creation during his tenure as the country emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden also pointed to areas of bipartisan progress in his first two years in office, including vital state infrastructure and high-tech manufacturing. And he says, “There’s no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.”
“People sent us a clear message. Fighting for fighting’s sake, power for power’s sake, conflict for conflict’s sake, gets us nowhere,” Biden said. “And that has always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class, to bring the country together.”
“We’ve been sent here to finish the job!”
The president took the House floor at a time when only a quarter of American adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. . About three-quarters say things are going wrong. And most Democrats don’t want Biden to seek another term.
He tried to confront those feelings head on.
“You wonder if there is already a path for you and your children to get ahead without walking away, I get it,” Biden said. “That is why we are building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the decisions we made in the last two years.”
House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was sitting behind Biden, urged his conference to be respectful ahead of Biden’s speech, in turn asking Biden to refrain from using the phrase “Republicans.” MAGA extremes”, which the president used in the electoral campaign in 2022.
“I won’t tear up the speech, I won’t play,” McCarthy told reporters, referring to Pelosi’s dramatic action after President Donald Trump’s final State of the Union address.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who gained a national profile as Trump’s press secretary, was set to give the Republican response to Biden’s speech.
Much of his commentary was to focus on social issues, including race in business and education and Big Tech’s alleged censorship of conservatives.
“As you reap the consequences of its failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in waking fantasies than the harsh reality Americans face every day,” he said, according to excerpts released by his office. “Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a culture war from the left that we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”
With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and lawmakers from both parties invited guests designed to drive political messages home with their presence on the House chamber. The parents of Tire Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those sitting with first lady Jill Biden. Other Biden guests included rock star/humanitarian Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month’s shooting in Monterey Park, California.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus invited family members of people involved in police incidents as they sought to push for action on police reform in the wake of Nichols’ death. The White House, prior to the speech, conflated police reform with reducing violence, suggesting that giving police better training tools could lead to less crime across the country.
Biden was changing his mind after spending his first two years pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package, legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. Now that Republicans are in control of the House, he’s focused on implementing those massive laws and making sure voters give him credit for the improvements.
The change is largely out of necessity. The newly empowered Republican Party is eager to undo many of his accomplishments and has promised to conduct a multitude of investigations, including investigating recent discoveries of classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and former office.
At the same time, Biden will need to find a way to work across the aisle to keep the government funded by raising the federal debt limit this summer. He has insisted that he will not negotiate to meet the country’s debt obligations; Republicans have equally insisted that he must make concessions on spending.
On the eve of the president’s speech, McCarthy challenged Biden to come to the negotiating table with House Republicans to cut spending as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
“We must move toward a balanced budget and insist on genuine accountability for every dollar we spend,” McCarthy said.
While hopes for large-scale bipartisanship are slim, Biden reissued his 2022 call for Congress to back his “unity agenda” of actions to address the opioid epidemic, mental health, veterans’ health and cancer. He announced new executive action and called on lawmakers to act to support new measures to support cancer research, address housing needs and suicide among veterans, increase access to mental health care, and act to take action. more energetic against the deadly traffic of fentanyl.
The president also called for extending the new cap of $35 a month on the price of insulin for people with Medicare to everyone in the country. And he lobbied Congress to quadruple the 1% tax on corporate stock buybacks that was enacted in the Democrats’ climate and health care bill passed last year, known as the Cut Inflation Act. .
The speech comes days after Biden ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was brazenly flying across the country, captivating the nation and serving as a reminder of strained relations between the two world powers.
Last year’s speech came just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and many in the West doubted Kyiv’s ability to withstand the attack. Over the past year, the United States and other allies have sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses. Now, Biden must make the case, both at home and abroad, to maintain that coalition as the war rages on.
