President Joe Biden will use his second State of the Union address to call on Congress to continue enacting the kinds of significant bipartisan legislation that formed the backbone of his legislative programme in 2021 and 2022, and to eschew the partisan rancor that has been typical of divided government in America over the last few decades.
In excerpts of his remarks released by the White House, Mr Biden will address his “Republican friends” directly and tell them there’s “no reason” they can’t work together in the same manner as was done during the 117th Congress despite the GOP now holding a majority in the House of Representatives.
“The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that’s always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America: the middle class, to unite the country,” Mr Biden will say, before exhorting the House and Senate to “finish the job” of implementing that vision for America.
Mr Biden’s annual address to Congress comes as the inflation that dominated headlines over the last year appears to be slowing, and as the unemployment rate in the US has reached levels unseen since 1969.
White House officials say Mr Biden will return to the “Unity Agenda” he first laid out in his speech last year, and will urge legislators to continue implementation of his economic plan, which he will describe as being “about investing in places and people that have been forgotten”.
“Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible,” he will say, before addressing viewers at home directly.
“Maybe that’s you watching at home. You remember the jobs that went away. And you wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away,” he will say.
Mr Biden will tell viewers: “I get it,” and remind them that his administration is “building an economy where no one is left behind”.
“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,” he will say.
The 46th president will also hail the progress his administration has made over the last two years in bringing the US back from the economic doldrums wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, and remind viewers that — in his opinion — the “story of America” is one “of progress and resilience”.
He will remind Americans that the US economy was “reeling” at this point two years ago, and point out that under his watch the US has seen 12 million new jobs created — “more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years”.
“Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives. And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War,” he will say, before telling attendees and viewers at home that American democracy , “though bruised,” still remains “unbowed and unbroken”.
