Closing summary
In his third, and potentially last, State of the Union address, Joe Biden eschewed tradition and delivered a barrage of attacks on Donald Trump – who he only referred to as “my predecessor”. It was a sign of how Biden believes Trump’s potential return to the White House poses an existential risk to American democracy, and perhaps also his awareness that he has a lot of support to rebuild to win a second term in November. While Democrats leapt to their feet for Biden’s promises to protect social security, cut child poverty and overhaul the country’s infrastructure, some found the president’s use of the word “illegal” objectionable. Meanwhile, Alabama’s Republican senator Katie Britt delivered the party’s rebuttal, asking: “Are you better off now than you were three years ago?”
Here are the highlights:
The 81-year-old president directly addressed his age, saying “I’ve been told I’m too old” while arguing he is still up for the job.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a rightwing nemesis, got unusually close to Biden, then heckled him during the speech over the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Six supreme court justices were present at the speech, only for Biden to criticize them directly for overturning Roe v Wade.
Protesters upset over Biden’s support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza blocked a road leading to the Capitol ahead of the speech.
George Santos was in the House chamber for the speech, reportedly to hang out with the people who removed him from office.
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House Democrats rankled by Biden's use of 'illegal' to describe murder suspect
Several Democratic House lawmakers have criticized Joe Biden for describing the undocumented migrant suspected of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley as an “illegal”.
Biden made the remark during his State of the Union address, while being heckled by rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who blamed the president’s border security policies for Riley’s murder. Biden held up a pin with Riley’s name on it, and called her “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal”.
Democrats took issue with that terminology, including Illinois’s Chuy Garcia:
As a proud immigrant, I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word "illegal."
— Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) March 8, 2024
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota:
Let me be clear: No human being is illegal.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 8, 2024
And Delia Ramirez of Illinois:
No human being is illegal.
— Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (@repdeliaramirez) March 8, 2024
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“Just ask yourself, are you better off now than you were three years ago?” Katie Britt asks in the Republican rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
Expect that to be a theme of GOP campaigns nationwide, including Donald Trump’s.
More, from Britt:
Look, we all recall when presidents faced national security threats with strength and resolve. That seems like ancient history right now. Our commander-in-chief is not in command. The free world deserves better than a doddering and diminished leader. America deserves leaders who recognize that secure borders, stable prices, safe streets and a strong defense are actually the cornerstones of a great nation.
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Alabama senator Katie Britt is delivering the Republican rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, and responded to his comments on Laken Riley.
“Tonight, President Biden finally said her name, but he refused to take responsibility for his own actions,” said Britt.
“Mr President, enough is enough. Innocent Americans are dying and you only have yourself to blame. Fulfill your oath of office, reverse your policies, end this crisis and stop the suffering.”
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One of the most striking moments of the night happened when Joe Biden addressed the topic of immigration – which polls show is a major weakness of his going into the November contest against Donald Trump.
As he spoke, the president was heckled by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a rightwing antagonist. Greene demanded he say the name of Laken Riley, who is suspected to have been murdered by an undocumented migrant.
Biden, who usually wants nothing to do with Greene, took her up on the offer. Here’s what happened:
In unscripted moment, Biden holds up Laken Riley button that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) gave him, using it as an opportunity to again call for the bipartisan border bill:
— The Recount (@therecount) March 8, 2024
“How many thousands of people being killed by illegals? … Get this bill done. We need to act now.” pic.twitter.com/lkOzRF1Gd8
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During Joe Biden’s speech, there were several rowdy heckles from Marjorie Taylor Greene and others. Then came an unexpected yell from the public balcony, directly opposite from where I am sitting in the press gallery.
A man wearing dark suit, blue shirt and yellow tie cupped his hands and shouted: “Remember Abbey Gate! United States Marines.” Abbey Gate, outside Kabul’s airport, is where 13 US service members were killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago.
His point made, the man voluntarily left before security yanked him out. Biden did not seem thrown off by the interruption as he carried on speaking. But the episode was a reminder that his approval rating has never quite recovered from the chaos in Kabul.
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Biden directly addresses advanced age as he concludes State of the Union
Joe Biden rarely discusses his age, but did so directly as he closed his State of the Union address.
“I’ve been told I’m too old,” he said, continuing:
Whether young or old … I’ve always known what endures. I’ve known our north star, the very idea of Americans, that we’re all created equal, deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea. We’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now.
“I know it may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” said the 81-year-old president, the oldest to ever hold the job.
“You get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever,” Biden continued. “I know the American story. Again and again, I’ve seen the contrast between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation, between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.”
Biden appears to be wrapping up, in high spirits.
“Let me close with this,” he said, to sardonic applause.
“I know you don’t want to hear any more, Lindsey. But I gotta say a few more things,” Biden said. He was presumably talking to South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham.
As Joe Biden discussed the war in Gaza, two progressive House Democrats sitting in the audience staged a minor protest.
Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush remained sitting and held up signs that read: “Lasting ceasefire now.”
Biden announces 'temporary pier' off Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid
Joe Biden just announced the US military would build a pier off Gaza’s coast to facilitate aid deliveries, and said no American soldiers would set foot in the enclave besieged by Israel.
“Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter,” Biden said.
“No US boots will be on the ground. A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into the Gaza every day … Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire.”
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The words “Donald Trump” have not passed Joe Biden’s lips since he began this speech, but he has repeatedly referenced “my predecessor”.
The most recent moment came when he discussed gun control and mass shootings.
“My predecessor told the NRA he’s proud he did nothing on guns when he was president. After another shooting in Iowa recently, he said, when asked what to do about it, he said, ‘just get over it.’ There’s his quote: ‘Just get over it,’” Biden said.
“I say stop it.”
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A protester was just removed from the House gallery.
The man started yelling at Joe Biden as he was addressing murder rates. It was hard to hear what he was saying, but it sounded like something about the marine corps.
Joe Biden then sparred with Republicans over immigration reform, after the party killed a bipartisan compromise to tie tighter border policies to aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“I’m told my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand they block the bill,” Biden said.
But he appeared to lose his train of thought, and picked up a pin, worn by rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, with the name Laken Riley, a Georgia woman suspected to have been killed by an undocumented immigrant.
He called Riley “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal” but then flubbed his next few words.
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Biden then appeared to lure Republicans into a trap.
“We have two ways to go: Republicans can cut social security and give more tax breaks to the wealthy,” he said. But before he could continue, the GOP erupted into jeers.
“Well, that’s the proposal,” the president countered. “You guys don’t want another $2tn tax cut? I kind of thought that’s what your plan was. Good to hear you’re not gonna cut another $2tn for the super wealthy. That’s good to hear.”
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Would it be a Democratic president’s State of the Union without an accusation that Republicans want to cut social security and Medicare? Nope!
“Many of my friends on the other side of the aisle want to put social security on the chopping block,” Biden said.
“If anyone here tries to cut social security, Medicare or raise the retirement age, I will stop you.”
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Joe Biden threw his weight behind a long-running push to restore a tax credit that is seen as crucial to lowering child poverty.
“The child tax credit I passed during the pandemic cut taxes for millions of working families and cut child poverty in half,” Biden said. He then boomed:
Restore the tax credit! No child should go hungry in this country.
While voters haven’t responded well to “Bidenomics”, there have been multiple polls to show they do support Joe Biden’s policies on capping prescription drug costs and changes to Medicare pricing in a country where healthcare burdens run many families into debt.
Biden seems to have recognized that he must go beyond saying the economy is strong and that inflation is down and took a significant amount of time to talk about his actions to limit health costs.
“The Affordable Care Act, old Obamacare, is still a very big deal,” he said. “Over 100 million of you can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. But my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act. I won’t let that happen. We stopped you 50 times before, and we will stop you again.”
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Joe Biden did not hold back on criticizing the overturning of Roe v Wade, addressing his remarks directly to the justices who were in the room.
“With all due respect, justices, women are not without … electoral or political power,” he said.
Joe Biden hit out at Republicans who voted against legislation he championed to revitalize the nation’s infrastructure, but nonetheless accepted the money it authorized.
“And by the way, I noticed some of you have strongly voted against it but they’re cheering on that money coming in,” Biden said to applause, presumably from Democrats.
“If you don’t want that money in your district, just let me know.”
Updated
Biden took a moment to recognize the pandemic – the lives lost and the social isolation.
He accused Donald Trump of not caring - to which someone from the audience shouted “Lies!”
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Joe Biden is now hitting out at the supreme court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v Wade, and vowing to codify the former precedent into law, if re-elected.
“If the American people send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land again,” he said.
The Democrats and Biden’s cabinet secretaries stood and applauded at that line. The six supreme court justices in the room – two of whom voted to overturn Roe v Wade – sat stonefaced.
Biden accuses Trump, Republicans of trying 'to bury the truth about January 6'
Joe Biden wasn’t done with his attacks on Donald Trump and his allies, bringing up the January 6 attack and accusing them of trying to cover it up:
History watched three years ago on January 6 when insurrectionists stormed this very capitol and placed a dagger to the throat of American democracy. Many of you were here on that darkest of days, we all saw with our own eyes. The insurrectionists were not patriots – they’d come to stop the peaceful transfer of power, to overturn the will of the people. January 6 lies about the 2020 election and the plots to steal the election posed a great gravest threat to US democracy since the cvil war. But they fail.
He concluded:
Our predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6. I will not do that.
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Biden attacks Trump for blocking Ukraine aid
Minutes into his speech, the first point the president landed on was this: Donald Trump is to blame for Congress’s failure to pass more aid to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is being blocked by those who want to walk away from our world leadership,” Joe Biden said.
It wasn’t a long ago when a Republican president named Ronald Reagan thundered, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now, my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin: ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’ That’s a quote. A former president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it’s outrageous, is dangerous and it’s unacceptable.
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Joe Biden began by comparing the moment to one faced by Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, when Adolf Hitler was on the march in Europe.
“Now, it’s we who face an unprecedented moment in history, the union and yes, my purpose tonight is to wake up the Congress, alert the American people, that this is no ordinary moment either,” Biden said.
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Biden begins State of the Union address
Joe Biden has climbed the House dais to begin his third State of the Union address, and the last of his first term – and potentially his presidency.
We’ll cover it live.
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The education secretary, Miguel Cardona, is not attending tonight’s State of the Union address because he is the designated survivor, a White House official confirmed.
That means he stays in a secure location in case something happens to the president and leaders of the legislative and judicial branches during tonight’s speech.
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Joe Biden appeared to have a brief encounter with one of his biggest antagonists: Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Georgia Republican congresswoman was decked out in a red Maga hat, and appeared to tell Biden, “Say her name, Mr President,” in reference to the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in the state. After she said that, Biden turned away.
Republicans have seized on Riley’s death to attack the president’s handling of migrant arrivals on the southern border, because the suspect in her murder was in the country illegally. Here’s more on that:
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Biden enters House chamber to deliver State of the Union address
Joe Biden is now walking into the House of Representatives chamber ahead of his State of the Union address.
This will be the third such speech he has given since taking office in 2021, and the last before the November elections, when voters will decide whether to give Biden another four years in the White House, or replace him with Donald Trump.
The president is making his way down a line of guests and members of Congress, shaking hands and speaking to them. The Democratic Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is right behind him.
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The vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, have been getting to know each other as they wait on the House dais for Joe Biden’s arrival.
As CSPAN points out, Johnson is the third House speaker Harris has had the chance to socialize with since taking office. The first was her Democratic buddy Nancy Pelosi back in 2022, when Biden’s allies controlled the House. The following year, Republicans took the majority and it was Republican Kevin McCarthy – but we all know what happened to him.
Now it’s Johnson:
Vice President Kamala Harris has been seated next to a different Speaker of the House for each State of the Union address. #SOTU #SOTU2024 pic.twitter.com/0AN6DAkLAN
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) March 8, 2024
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For some reason, expelled former Republican congressman George Santos has returned to watch the State of the Union from the House floor:
Axios reports he wanted to hang out with the lawmakers who voted to remove him from office last year for being a big-time liar:
👀👀 Scooplet: George Santos is coming to the State of the Union and plans to sit on the House floor among former colleagues who voted to expel him
— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) March 7, 2024
Joe Biden’s drive from the White House to the Capitol was complicated by demonstrators who blocked roads to protest his support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza:
Biden was able to make it to the Capitol via an alternate route.
Hours before his State of the Union address, it emerged Joe Biden will announce the creation of a temporary port on the Gaza shoreline to be built by US forces.
Biden will say the port will be built in the next few weeks to allow delivery of humanitarian aid on a large scale, amid warnings of a widespread famine among the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
“We are not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership,” a senior US official said on Thursday, reflecting growing frustration of what is seen in Washington as Israeli obstruction of ground deliveries of aid on a substantial scale.
The port will be built by US military engineers operating from ships off the Gaza coast, who will not need to step ashore, US officials said. The aid deliveries will be shipped from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus, which will become the main relief hub.
An Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos were children will attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, as guests of the first lady, Jill Biden.
LaTorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, is among the first lady’s 20 invited guests who “personify issues or themes to be addressed by the president in his speech”, the White House said in a statement.
Also among the guests of high-ranking Democrats are Elizabeth Carr, the first person in the US to be born via IVF; Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who nearly died of septic shock when she was denied a medically necessary abortion; and Kate Cox, who had to flee Texas for an abortion after she learned her fetus had a fatal chromosomal condition.
Democratic women wear white to State of the Union in show of support for abortion rights
As lawmakers and officials file into the chamber of the House of Representatives, a notable fashion trend has emerged.
Many female lawmakers are wearing white, and it’s not an accident. The Democratic Women’s Caucus says its members have donned the color along with pins reading “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom”.
“Our message is clear: women must be able to access the health care they need to control their own lives and futures. That means women, not politicians, should be in charge of whether, when, and how to start or grow their families. That includes access to birth control, access to abortion, and access to IVF,” the caucus chair Lois Frankel said.
Who is Katie Britt? Alabama senator to deliver Republican State of the Union rebuttal
The GOP has chosen first-term Alabama senator Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever to serve in the Senate, to deliver the rebuttal to the State of the Union address tonight.
At 42, Britt is also the third-youngest senator currently serving, presenting a counterpoint to the oldest sitting president.
Her rebuttal will come on the heels of a high-stakes political showdown over women’s access to in vitro fertilization in her home state.
The Guardian’s George Chidi has written more about Britt here:
What to watch for
Joe Biden will likely portray this election as he did in 2020: a contest between democracy and Donald Trump, whose authoritarian rhetoric has escalated since he lost the 2020 election to Biden.
It is unclear how Biden will position himself on foreign policy. His administration faces mounting pressure from the right to abandon its support for Ukraine, which for more than two years has been fighting a Russian ground invasion. And he faces calls from a progressive anti-war movement to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign. During his speech, Biden is expected to announce the creation of a port on the coast of Gaza to deliver more aid to the besieged enclave.
A week ago, Biden and Trump made dueling visits to the US-Mexico border, underscoring the centrality of immigration policy to the 2024 race – and the shift to the right that Biden and other Democratic politicians have made on the issue. During his speech in Brownsville, Texas, Biden called on Trump to support the bipartisan bill to restrict immigration on the southern border, which is languishing in Congress. How, and if, Biden speaks about immigration will be a prelude to his approach during the months ahead on the campaign trail.
This speech will also offer Biden an opportunity to address abortion rights, an issue that has mobilized Democratic voters since the supreme court decision protecting abortion access, Roe v Wade, was overturned. An Alabama supreme court decision in February ruling that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law – which has led to threats to access to in vitro fertilization there – brought concerns about reproductive healthcare access back to the fore. Biden has expressed his personal misgivings about abortion on religious grounds, but has defended Roe v Wade.
How to watch the State of the Union address
Joe Biden’s State of the Union address is scheduled to begin at 9pm ET/6pm PT tonight, 7 March, and will be broadcast on the major news networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX.
It will also be carried by CSPAN and streamed live on the White House website.
'I promise you: I will restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land': Biden to vow at State of the Union
Democrats have tried and failed to protect abortion rights federally ever since it became clear the supreme court would overturn Roe v Wade, as it did in 2022. The party never had the votes, but at this evening’s State of the Union address, Biden will make clear it would be a priority, if re-elected:
In its decision to overturn Roe v Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote ‘Women are not without electoral or political power.’ No kidding. Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024. If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose I promise you: I will restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land again.
He will also attempt to persuade Americans that the economy is doing all right:
I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. It doesn’t make the news, but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told. So let’s tell that story here and now. America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up – not the top down, investing in all of America – in all Americans – to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind.
Biden may at some point choose to call out Trump by name, but from what the White House has released, he’s only referring to him obliquely – and pointing out that they are not far apart in age. Here’s the line:
My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.
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Biden to put abortion rights at center of last State of the Union address before November elections
Good evening, US politics blog readers. Tonight at 9pm ET, Joe Biden will deliver what could be the most important speech of his presidency: the last State of the Union address before he faces Donald Trump in the November presidential elections. The annual speech is an important one for any president, but carries extra weight for Biden because it is a major opportunity to reengage with voters who have drifted away from him over the past three years but will be crucial in defeating Trump. Democrats are jittery over Biden’s persistently bad poll numbers, which for more than two and a half years have defied anything the president does to turn the situation around. His campaign believes the struggle for abortion rights is key to turning the situation around – among the promises the president will make tonight is a pledge to codify Roe v Wade if re-elected with Democratic majorities in Congress, the White House says.
Here’s what else we are watching for this evening:
The president has not shied away from attacking Trump as a threat to democracy in speeches since the start of the year, but this evening he’ll be in a room full of Republican lawmakers loyal to the former president. Will he bash him in front of them?
Rightwing lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have made names for themselves by heckling Biden at prior State of the Union addresses. Will they repeat the act tonight?
Biden’s age has been a concern among voters and even some Democrats who worry the 81-year-old isn’t up to another four years in office. Will he address the touchy issue?
