President Biden celebrated Ukrainian resilience in the midst of the ongoing Russian invasion in his first State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, and touted his own role in uniting the West in its response to the Kremlin’s unprovoked aggression.
The invasion, which began on February 24, has caused over 660,000 people to flee the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The U.N. said 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in six days of war.
Russian president Vladimir Putin sought to justify his invasion by claiming he would “denazify” Ukraine, while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia “is preventing Nazis and those who push methods of genocide to rule in this country.”
Biden countered on Tuesday that Putin did not anticipate the resistance he would meet in Ukraine.
“He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people,” Biden said.
“Putin’s latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and totally unprovoked. He rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. He thought he could divide us here at home,” Biden said. “But Putin was wrong. We are ready, we are united, and that’s what we did — we stayed united.”
Biden and European leaders have announced various sanctions targeting the Russian economy, and on Tuesday Biden said the U.S. would follow Europeans nations by banning Russian aircraft from its airspace. The president also said he spent “countless hours unifying our European allies,” disseminating Putin’s plans in advance of the invasion.
Moving to the nation’s economic situation, Biden touted the passage of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
“We’re done talking about infrastructure weeks. We’re now talking about an infrastructure decade,” Biden said. “It’s going to transform America, to put us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st Century that we face with the rest of the world, particularly China.”
Biden said the infrastructure and jobs created as a result of the bill will help ensure that American goods are “made in America.”
Biden also claimed already to see a “revitalization” of American manufacturing, with “369,000 new manufacturing jobs created in America last year alone,” though he didn’t acknowledge the massive lift his economy received from the cessation of Covid lockdowns.
However, Biden noted, the economic recovery following the Covid pandemic and resultant supply-chain issues have pushed costs up and driven inflation. The consumer price index rose 7.4 percent over the twelve months ending in January, the highest annual increase in inflation since February 1982, while wholesale prices rose 9.7 percent in January from the previous year.
Biden touted a plan to fight inflation, promising Americans to “lower your costs, not your wages.”
“Make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America,” Biden said. “More goods moving faster and cheaper in America. More jobs where you can earn a good living in America. Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America.”
Rather than seeking to cool off an overheated economy, Biden pledged additional government spending to fight inflation, advocating additional methods to cut costs, included tax credits and investments in clean energy including solar, wind, and electric-powered vehicles, as well as subsidized child care. Meanwhile, Biden called for a 15-percent minimum tax for corporations and touted efforts to establish a global minimum tax.
Biden said part of his plan to combat inflation includes lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
“Let’s let Medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs,” Biden said.
Turning to the Covid pandemic, Biden noted that more areas of the country are moving back to “normal routines,” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxing mask guidelines for the U.S. Additionally, Biden called for schools to remain open for in-person learning.
“Our schools are open. Let’s keep it that way. Our kids need to be in school,” Biden said.
Biden also sought to reassure Americans that vaccines for new Covid variants, should they arise, can be deployed efficiently.
“If necessary, we’ll be able to deploy new vaccines within 100 days instead of many more months or years,” Biden said. “I cannot promise a new variant won’t come. But I can promise you we’ll do everything within our power to be ready if it does.”
The Biden administration faced record high levels of illegal immigration during the president’s first year in office, with Border Patrol officers encountering roughly 1.9 million migrants at the southern border.
Biden sought to allay concerns over the influx of migrants over the past year. The president touted the installation of “new technology” at the border to “better detect drug smuggling,” and joint patrols with Mexico and, further south, Guatemala, to catch “human traffickers.”
Additionally, Biden said his administration is putting in place “dedicated immigration judges in significant larger number” to ease pressure for asylum cases.
“We can do all this while keeping lit the torch of liberty that has led a generation of immigrants to this land,” Biden said.