Biden Calls on Congress to "Finish the Job" in State of the Union Address
Biden at the Poughkeepsie IBM on Oct. 18 by Circle Editors.
President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address under a divided Congress on February 7, avoiding any mention of a potential 2024 campaign while touting his legislative achievements and a unity agenda before a particularly raucous crowd.
Biden’s second State of the Union came on the cusp of his anticipated reelection launch, and his 73-minute speech previewed an optimistic campaign platform.
He took stock of the nation’s progress since he took office two years ago and sought to prove his leadership has delivered results both at home and abroad. He did so against a backdrop of economic uncertainties, national pessimism, fraught political divisions, a weary war in Ukraine and growing tensions with China, just days after Biden ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the country for five days. Further, the president faces a standoff with Congress over raising the debt ceiling, with new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office indicating the nation could default as soon as July.
“Folks, the story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never, ever, giving up,” Biden said. “It’s a story unique among all nations. We’re the only country that has emerged from every crisis we’ve ever entered stronger than when we got into it.”
The president also took to the rostrum facing dismal approval ratings — among the lowest second-year numbers of any modern president at around 42 percent — with high inflation serving as a persistent drag. While Biden laid out his policy successes, including the passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the bipartisan CHIPS Act, just a quarter of U.S. adults say things are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives,” Biden said.
Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and newly elected GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Biden called on a divided Congress to pass his top agenda items. The president urged congressional leaders to work with him to “finish the job" — a phrase he echoed 13 times — and pass policing reform and immigration legislation, codify abortion rights, cap insulin costs for all Americans, address the mounting climate crisis, raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations and ban assault-style weapons in the wake of a series of recent mass shootings.
"I promised to be the president for all Americans. We’ll fund your projects. And I’ll see you at the ground-breaking," the president said in championing the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal.
As Biden declared that America’s democracy was “unbowed and unbroken,” a large fence encircling the Capitol complex and tighter-than-usual security evinced a bruised nation.
“For the last few years our democracy has been threatened, attacked, and put at risk. Put to the test here, in this very room, on Jan. 6,” Biden said.
While not directly mentioning his predecessor and potential 2024 opponent by name, Biden condemned the attack on Paul Pelosi — husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — saying the attacker used “the very same language” of Jan. 6 insurrectionists and was “unhinged by the Big Lie,” Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
“There is no place for political violence in America. 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,” Biden said.
At times, Biden veered off-script and ad-libbed with the unusually boisterous crowd, snapping back at the repeated Republican heckles and boos that even drew hushes from McCarthy. Biden seemed to relish in the jeers from some GOP members when he questioned their commitment to preserving Medicare and Social Security. After an interruption of boos and shouts of “Liar!” from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Republicans, Biden smiled. “Folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now,” he said. “All right, we’ve got unanimity.”
He ad-libbed, “If anyone tries to cut Social Security, which apparently no one is going to do, I will stop them.”