President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address is expected to make the case that his economic vision is still standing after a year of surging prices and record inflation and amid a backdrop of war in Europe.
Democrats face resistance from voters, whom polls show are unhappy with the president’s handling of major pocketbook issues one year into office, despite strong economic growth and increased jobs.
Biden’s pitch to Congress follows a challenging start to the year, which saw the president’s sweeping social spending plan and voting rights push collapse after failing to secure enough Democratic support.
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On a call Monday, senior administration officials said Biden’s address would deliver a hopeful picture of where the economy is headed while detailing the administration’s plans for reducing expenses for families.
“He’ll talk about the progress that we’ve made in the last year in the face of deep challenges, and he’ll talk about his optimism for the future,” one official said. “He’ll remind the country that our best days lie ahead.”
Biden is expected to lay out a strategy to strengthen manufacturing and supply chains, reduce costs for families while reducing the deficit, promote competition to lower prices, boost small businesses, and limit barriers to employment.
“These and other actions taking over the coming year will rebuild our infrastructure and create good jobs, increase the productive capacity of our economy, and shore up supply chains over the long run,” a second senior official said.
While Biden will make a case for future spending, officials declined to say whether the president would use the name of his stalled Build Back Better plan.
“It’s not about the name of the bill. It’s about the ideas. It’s about lowering costs for families,” said a third senior official when asked if Biden intends to resurrect the bill’s name. “You can expect to hear the president talk about those ideas.”
The official said Biden would call on Congress to lower prescription drug costs, healthcare premiums, utility bills, and more. “We’ll talk about reducing the deficit and will call on Congress to act now,” he added.
The first administration official demurred when asked whether Biden intends to call out by name the inflation that has surged to a 40-year high under his watch.
“I’m not going to go into, you know, whether he will say the word inflation or not,” she said, clarifying earlier comments on whether Biden intends to talk about “entrenched” price increases.
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“The president will talk about price increases that become entrenched, not that have already become entrenched,” she said.
In addition to the economy, Biden’s speech will focus on the administration’s efforts to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an area where the president has devoted considerable attention to rallying allies.
