PRESIDENT BIDEN TOUTS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN STATE OF UNION ADDRESS, CALLS FOR UNITY TO “FINISH THE JOB”

View video of full 2023 State of the Union address on C-Span

By Miriam Raftery

February 10, 2023 (Washington D.C.) – U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, celebrating  American accomplishments and resilience since he took office amid the pandemic.  “We’ve saved millions of lives and opened America back up,” said Biden. “So let’s look at the results.”

 Among his administration’s achievements, he cited:

• Cutting the deficit by over $1.7 trillion, the largest deficit reduction in U.S. history. (Under the Trump administration, by contrast, the deficit increased for four straight years.)
• Creating 12 million jobs in two years, more than any prior administration created in four years
• Creating 800,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs, the fastest growth in 40 years. Instead of factories  moving overseas, the U.S. is once again exporting American products.
• Attaining an unemployment rate of 3.4%, the lowest in 50 years, including record low unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic workers
• Ending the emergency declaration as COVID no longer controls our lives and COVID deaths have dropped 90%
• Capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare
• Inflation, a global problem due to supply disruptions form the pandemic and the Ukraine war, is now coming down; gas prices are down $1.50 a gallon, food prices are dipping and inflation has fallen each month for the past six months, following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act
• Enacting the CHIPS and Science Act to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs to make “sure the supply chain for America begins in America”, making semiconductor chips in the U.S. for use in cellphones, autos and more.
• Signing over 300 bipartisan laws including an infrastructure bill that is putting Americans to work building and repairing roads and bridges, as well as replacing lead pipes to provide clean water to schools, homes and childcare centers and bringing high-speed internet to rural communities
• Signing a law to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits
• Signing a bill to reduce the deficit by $115 billion by cracking down on wealthy tax cheats
• Providing tax credits to buy electric vehicles and investing in charging stations, as well as clean energy
• Recovering billions of taxpayer dollars lost to rampant fraud by bringing back watchdogs -  inspector generals sidelined by the prior administration
• Allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices to reduce costs.
• Launching a new border plan last month that resulted in a 97% drop in  unlawful migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Biden said his vision for the nation has always been to “restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class,” and “to unite the country.”  In a vigorous speech that could preface an announcement to seek reelection, Biden pledged to “finish the job.”

He urged Congress to lift the debt ceiling, as Congress did repeatedly under Trump’s presidency. Biden chastised some Republicans for trying to “take the economy hostage unless I agree to their economic plans…Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away. Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in history.”

Some Republican legislators in the audience booed and called Biden a liar over his statements on Social Security, but the White House fired back the next day, releasing a copy of Republican Senator Rick Scott’s written plan to have federal programs including Medicare and Social Security sunset, as well as clips of other Republican legislators calling for ending or cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, though House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has now said he won’t support ending these programs. Biden pledged to veto any such measure and called on all members to “stand up for seniors.”

Here’s what else the President wants to do:

• Offer a fiscal plan next month to lower the deficit by $2 trillion without any cuts to Medicare or Social Security, and without raising taxes on anyone earning $400,000 a year or less.
• “Reward work, not just wealth.” He urged Congress to pay for his fiscal plan’s ambitious goals by adopting a billionaire minimum tax so that no billionaire pays a lower rate than a teacher or firefighter. He noted that in 2020, 55 of the biggest American companies paid zero in federal income taxes.

• Cap the cost of insulin for all Americans, not just those on Medicare
• Help consumers by passing legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement
• Pass a  Junk Free Prevention Act to stop hidden surcharges, such as airlines charging families to sit together or ordinary hotels charging resort fees. It would also cap service fees on tickets for concerts and sporting events, and make sellers disclose fees up front, cut credit card fees 75%, and limit charges by internet and cellphone companies when users switch to another provider.
• Restore the Child Tax Credit, which cut child poverty in half
• Enact comprehensive immigration reform. If the GOP-led House won’t do so, Biden asked them to at least “pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border, and a pathway for citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers.”
• Help seniors and disabled people stay in their homes with in-home services
• Increase affordable higher education opportunities for students
• Help prevent veterans’ homelessness and suicides
• Continue efforts to “end cancer as we know it and cure some cancers once at for all,” said Biden, who lost a son to cancer and led efforts to invest in the “cancer moonshot” program
• Triple the anti-fraud strike forces going after criminals defrauding taxpayers
• Improve safety by giving law enforcement better training and more resources, while also holding accountable officers who violate the public trust,
• Invest in m ore first responders and professionals to address mental health and substance abuse problems

Biden introduced the mother of Tyre Nichols, who was murdered by police officers in Memphis. “Let’s commit ourselves to make the words of Tyre’s mother come true: something good must come of this,” he said.

Biden also introduced Brandon Tsay, a 26-year-old hero who wrestled a semi-automatic gun away from a mass shooter at a Lunar New Year celebration.  The President noted that during the 10 years that assault weapons were banned nationally, mass shootings went down. After Republicans lifted the ban, mass shootings tripled. “Let’s finish the job and ban assault weapons again,” the President urged.

He also urged Congress to restore women’s right to choose abortion and birth control, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, though the Republican-controlled House has done the opposite, with leaders supporting bills that would ban or restrict abortion nationally.  “If Congress passes a national abortion ban, I will veto it,” said Biden. He also called for passage of the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ Aemricans.

President Biden also spoke at length on the importance of democracy, which is under threat around the world.

Regarding the Ukraine War, Biden said,”Putin’s invasion has been a test for the ages. A test for America. A test for the world.”  He noted with pride that America led efforts to stand up for the right of people to live free from tyranny. “We united NATO and built a global coalition. We stood against’s Putin’s aggression. WE stood with the Ukrainian people,” he said, introducing Ukraine’s ambassador.

He also addressed concerns over China.  While Biden said he’s made clear to Chinese President Xi that the U.S. seeks competition, not conflict, he added that the U.S. s investing in American innovation to prevent China from dominating key industries. “Today, we’re in the strongest position in decades to compete with China or anyone else in the world,” he said.

While he indicated the U.S. would work with China where possible to benefit American interests or the world’s, Biden also made clear that further incursion of Chinese spy balloons would not be tolerated, after order a balloon shot down off the eastern coast of the U.S. last week. The Pentagon has since confirmed that the balloon was equipped for spying – and that several similar balloons flew over the U.S. during Trump’s administration and have further penetrated airspace over at least 40 nations.

“Make no mistake.  As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country,” Biden said. “And we did.”

Biden spoke out against political violence fueled by false claims of a stolen election, including the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the assailant who brutally assaulted then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, who was present during the State of the Union Speech.

“We must all speak out,” Biden implored. “There is no place for political violence in America…we must protect the right to vote, not suppress that fundamental right. We honor the results of our elections, not subvert the will of the people. We must uphold the rule of the law and restore trust in our institutions of democracy. And we must give hate and extremism in any form no safe harbor.”

He concluded, “Democracy must not be a partisan issue. It must be an American issue.” Every generation of Americans has faced a moment where they have been called on to protect our democracy, to defend it, to stand up for it. And this is our moment.”

Noting that the American people are not bystanders to history, but that we have the power to choose our fate, he concluded, “We must be the nation we have always been at our best. Optimistic. Hopeful. Forward-looking. A nation that embraces light over darkness, hope over fear, unity over division. Stability over chaos.” 

He urged people to see each other as fellow Americans, as he concluded his constitutional duty to report on the State of the Union.  “Here is my report,” he summed up.  “Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of tis nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong…I have never been more optimistic about the future of America. We just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.”