President Joe Biden blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine before pivoting to a laundry list of familiar spending proposals in a sometimes uneven first State of the Union that garnered faithful applause from Democrats and predictable panning from Republicans.
Biden’s hourlong speech, the first to lead with foreign policy since former President George W. Bush, coincided with concerns Putin may escalate the intensity of his attacks on Ukraine to create a split-screen moment between himself and Biden.
TEXAS DEMOCRATS RUN AWAY FROM BIDEN AS LEFT THREATENS CENTRISTS
Biden used the bully pulpit provided by the State of the Union to announce a ban on Russian planes in U.S. airspace. He defended his ally-coordinated handling of the conflict, which could redefine world order, and leaned into his democracy-versus-autocracy rhetoric to link the fight abroad in Ukraine to those at home.
“Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people,” Biden said Tuesday, wearing a blue suit and tie. “He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never weaken the resolve of the free world.”
Pledging to seize “ill-begotten” Russian oligarchy assets while insisting “we are going to be OK,” Biden also announced the release of 30 million U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve barrels to counter potential gas price hikes.
The importance of Ukraine to Biden’s State of the Union was underscored by first lady Jill Biden hosting Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova as a special guest in the House chamber. Markarova grew tearful as she received a standing ovation from lawmakers, several of whom wore yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Biden and his aides are hoping the State of the Union, which could be watched by almost 27 million viewers, will be a reset for his administration as an average of roughly 55% disapprove of the president, 60% believe he is leading the country in the wrong direction, and Republicans hold a 4-point advantage on a generic congressional ballot. Other than expected verbal missteps, such as mentioning Iranians rather than Ukrainians, it was a relatively strong, coherent performance.
Biden’s address was well-timed to mark the end of the pandemic emergency as states roll back their COVID-19 restrictions amid a decline in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Even Washington, D.C., dropped its mask mandate Tuesday, meaning the president spoke to an optionally covered-up audience. Biden additionally rolled out a new “test-to-treat” program and pandemic fraud prosecutor, yet vowed he would never “just accept living with COVID-19.”
“We will continue to combat the virus as we do other diseases,” he said. “And because this is a virus that mutates and spreads, we will stay on guard.”
But the lingering sting of inflation has contributed to persistent pandemic pessimism, resulting in Biden’s poor crisis management grades.
Biden did not sidestep around the word “inflation” after staffers avoided it during a background briefing call. Instead, he tried to convey empathy to households under financial pressure.
“Too many families are struggling to keep up with the bills,” he said. “Inflation is robbing them of the gains they might otherwise feel. I get it. That’s why my top priority is getting prices under control.”
Biden promoted his $2 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law last year, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, and promising economic indicators, including gross domestic product and employment numbers.
“We’re done talking about infrastructure weeks,” Biden said, a dig at former President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful infrastructure projects. “We’re now talking about an infrastructure decade.”
Republicans jeered at Biden’s reference to Trump’s “$2 trillion tax cut” and immigration reforms. Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert interjected when Biden said he understood the gravity of military deaths given his first son Beau served in Iraq.
“You put them in, 13 of them!” she yelled.
However, Biden’s clarion call to lawmakers to pass legislation increasing competitiveness with China, decreasing healthcare costs and prescription drug prices, helping to shoulder family care burdens, and making education and energy bills more affordable, as well as to confirm the first black woman Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, may be muffled by a dissatisfied far Left.
Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a left-wing firebrand and an original member of “the Squad,” delivered her own response to Biden’s State of the Union on behalf of the Working Families Party. She blamed her centrist colleagues for blocking the president’s sprawling social welfare and climate spending agenda.
Simultaneously, Biden imploring Congress to pass elements of his $2 trillion Build Back Better framework and expand ballot access emphasized the failures of his first year in office. A House-cleared version of Build Back Better is languishing in the Senate because it lacks West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s support.
“Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and extend the child tax credit, so no one has to raise a family in poverty,” Biden said.
Biden’s State of the Union touched on the recent crime spike, too, touting his prevention proposal and desire to put more community police officers on city and town streets.
“The answer is not to defund the police,” he said. “It’s to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds offered the official Republican State of the Union reaction. Reynolds, a prospective 2024 Trump running mate, focused on education after last month’s San Francisco school board recall exposed Democratic fissures over the issue.
Republican National Committee spokesman Tommy Pigott doubted a State of the Union “filled with desperate spin and outright lies” would change the trajectory of Biden’s presidency.
“Thanks to Joe Biden, the state of our union is a whole lot weaker,” he said. “The American people will vote accordingly in November.”
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Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to take his State of the Union message on the road Wednesday. The president, accompanied by his wife, will publicize the bipartisan infrastructure deal’s investments in roads, bridges, and jobs at Yellowjacket Union in Superior, Wisconsin. Harris will do the same at a college in Durham, North Carolina.
