State of the Union summary
That’s it from us tonight. Here’s how the night unfolded as Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address:
- Biden sharply condemned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, celebrating America’s “unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny”. “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated,” Biden said at the start of his hour-long speech. “He thought he could roll into Ukraine, and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined: he met the Ukrainian people.” The Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, attended the speech as Jill Biden’s guest and received a standing ovation.
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Biden confirmed that the US will ban Russian planes from its airspace, following the example of the EU and Canada. “He has no idea what’s coming,” Biden said of Putin. The US president also delivered a strong rebuke to Russian oligarchs, saying the West is “coming for your ill-begotten gains”.
- Biden outlined his strategy for fighting inflation, which has reached a 40-year high in the US. The president said the US needs to invest in American supply chains to both lower prices and provide good-paying jobs for many workers. “I think I have a better idea to fight inflation: lower costs, not your wages,” Biden said. “Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America.”
- Biden said the US has reached “a new moment” in its fight against coronavirus, as its number of cases decreases after the country passed the peak of its Omicron surge. “Tonight I can say we’re moving forward safely back to more normal routines,” Biden said. He also encouraged offices to reopen, saying, “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.”
- In the Republican response to Biden’s speech, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds attacked Democrats over rising prices and their pandemic-related policies. “The president and Democrats in Congress have spent the last year either ignoring the issues facing Americans or making them worse,” Reynolds said, blaming Biden’s agenda for pushing gas and food prices higher.
The US politics blog will be back tomorrow for more coverage of the White House’s response to the Ukraine crisis and reactions to the State of the Union. See you then.
Delivering the progressive, Working Families Party response to Biden’s speech, Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib touted the president’s “Build Back Better” agenda and asserted that “no one fought harder for President Biden’s agenda than progressives.”
Tlaib promised that progressives would continue to work with Biden to pass policies that benefit workers and address climate change. She emphasized progressive policy goals including raising the minimum wage, strengthening social safety nets and transforming “our broken immigration system into one where immigrants are welcomed, not vilified.”
On Ukraine, Tlaib said that the “US and our allies must work together towards an immediate cease-fire and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that de-escalates and saves lives”.
“We need a humanitarian response to this crisis, and we must welcome Ukrainian refugees from all walks of life to the United States,” she added.
At multiple points in her address, Tlaib referenced policy goals that reach beyond what Biden and moderate Democrats have endorsed. But she repeatedly emphasized commonalities among Democrats’ goals – and contrasted them against the right-wing and Republican agenda.
“I’m a lifelong Democrat and I’m also part of the Working Families Party, because I believe that our government must put the needs of working families first,” Tlaib explained
Reflecting on the past year, she said: ‘We showed the potential of an administration and Congress that act together... We showed how our government can be in the service of the working class majority, not just the wealthy few.”
