On Tuesday, United States President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address, urged Republicans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and support tax reforms that would benefit middle-class Americans.
The speech also served as a guide for his 2024 reelection campaign.
Biden used his prime-time speech to emphasize the progressive ideals of his Democratic Party that many Republican lawmakers find repugnant, criticizing oil firms for earning large profits and corporate America for exploiting consumers.
Since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January, Biden has addressed a joint session of Congress only once. In that speech, he made a commitment to cooperate with the opposition lawmakers even as he sparred with them in the room.
He remarked, “To my Republican friends, there is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on key matters in this Congress as well. If we could work together in the last Congress.”
During his about 73-minute address, some Republicans occasionally heckled and jeered him.
In order to prevent a default, the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling must be raised in the upcoming months. Biden challenged Republicans to do so. According to the White House, Biden won’t compromise on that issue; Republicans want expenditure reductions in exchange for their backing.
“I understand that some of my Republican friends want to hold the economy hostage until I accept their economic policies. You should all be aware of those plans at home. Some Republicans… want Medicare and Social Security to sunset, rather than making the wealthy pay their fair share,” he said, prompting jeers.
He then pleaded with lawmakers to defend older folks, and when they did, Biden declared triumph. He jokingly remarked, “I enjoy converting,” implying that such changes to the social safety net services that were well-liked by voters were now off the table.
The back-and-forth highlighted Biden’s apparent ease in Congress, where he participated in discussions for 36 years as a U.S. senator.
Republican ex-representative Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “Joe Biden sparring with the crowd and winning wasn’t anything I expected.”
Tyre Nichols, a Black man, died last month after being attacked by police in Memphis, Tennessee, prompting the president to call for changes in policing. Among the audience members at the speech were Nichols’ mother and stepfather.
In order to draw attention to issues that might be prominent in a re-election campaign, Biden highlighted the fact that the economy was gaining from 12 million new jobs, COVID-19 no longer had control over American lives, and that American democracy was still intact, despite the country facing its greatest threat since the Civil War.
Our democracy is still unbowed and unbroken today, he said, despite its wounds.