In his maiden speech to a joint session of Congress since taking office in January, President Joe Biden said he spent his first 100 days in office extending a helping hand to the public and that he planned to continue to do so for the remainder of his term. Republicans, however, see a big spender who blundered into a migrant crisis at the southern border.
“Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation: America is on the move again, turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity, setback into strength,” Biden declared.
Here are five key takeaways from Biden’s address.
BIDEN’S JOB APPROVAL RATING TRUMPS TRUMP’S — AND THAT’S ABOUT IT
The era of big government is not over. In sharp contrast with former President Bill Clinton, Biden boldly proclaimed that he has sweeping plans for federal programs in order to end the pandemic, put people back to work, and create a more generous welfare state. Instead of saying that welfare as we knew it was also “over,” some Democrats consider his plans more ambitious than those of the man Biden served for eight years as vice president, former President Barack Obama.
Biden used the speech to start a tour promoting the purported benefits of the $1.9 trillion plan he already signed into law. He also made a case for the nearly $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, centered on an expansive definition of infrastructure, which he has already proposed. To this, he added his opening pitch for the freshly unveiled $1.8 trillion American Family Plan, which came out hours before the speech.
That’s upward of $6 trillion in new spending in just under 100 days, coupled with a series of new tax increases, despite exceedingly narrow Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.
Biden projected a mixture of optimism and caution on COVID-19. The president repeatedly touted the progress of his administration in rolling out the vaccine and rebuilding an economy hammered by the pandemic. “Go get vaccinated, America,” he said. But there were reminders of the coronavirus everywhere.
Attendance was sparse. Lawmakers were masked. Biden did not remove his mask until he took the podium. Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had face coverings on behind the president the whole time. Biden also acknowledged the elephant in the room: “The setting is familiar. The gathering is a little bit different.”
There were veiled references to former President Donald Trump, but nothing was as direct as the 45th president’s references to his own predecessor. Trump went unmentioned by name. But Biden said the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when Trump supporters engaged in violent protests while Congress attempted to certify the Electoral College results, was the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” Some Republicans took to social media to note that Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred in the interim. Biden also said he was for “choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, light over darkness.”
Biden made a play for the blue-collar voters Democrats are losing because of their agenda and social liberalism. A CNN poll released on Wednesday found that 56% of white people without college degrees still disapprove of how Biden’s performed as president.
“Now, I know some of you at home are wondering whether these jobs are for you,” Biden said. “You feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that’s rapidly changing.” He said he would fight unfair trade practices by China.
“Nearly 90% of the infrastructure jobs created in the American Jobs Plan do not require a college degree,” he added. “Seventy-five percent do not require an associate’s degree. The American Jobs Plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build America.”
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Biden is open to bipartisanship — with a caveat. Biden fist-bumped the ranking Republican in the House who voted for Trump’s second impeachment. He recognized the top Senate Republican’s support for naming an Obama-era cancer initiative after his son Beau. His closest reference to Trump was saying that “the last president” also wanted to lower prescription prices.
“Vice President Harris and I meet regularly in the Oval Office with Democrats and Republicans to discuss the American Jobs Plan,” Biden said. “And I applaud a group of Republican senators who just put forward their proposal. … We welcome ideas. But the rest of the world isn’t waiting for us. Doing nothing is not an option.”
