President Joe Biden called for new gun-control measures, higher taxes, and more access to abortion during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
He took aim at former president Donald Trump — referred to only as “my predecessor” — for running record deficits, and he accused Republicans in Congress of holding Social Security and Medicare hostage.
He dodged responsibility for the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border, passing the buck to Congress for not passing his preferred comprehensive immigration reform proposal. And while he said that “we have broken Covid’s grip on us,” he made no mention of the significant learning loss American students suffered while many of the nation’s schools remained shut on his watch.
For much of his speech, Biden focused on unity and his alleged desire to work with his “Republican friends,” noting that he’d signed over 300 bipartisan bills in the last two years, including the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. That bill has allowed for the funding of over 20,000 infrastructure projects, he said, including expanding high-speed internet and replacing poisonous lead pipes.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” Biden said. “The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that’s always been my vision for our country. To restore the soul of the nation. To rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class. To unite the country.”
But his calls for unity typically seemed not to be calls for bipartisan compromise, but instead for Republicans to unify behind his position on controversial issues.
On abortion, Biden did not call for moderation or compromise, but instead called on Congress to codify the right to abortion that “the Supreme Court took away last year.” More than a dozen states, he said, are enforcing extreme abortion bans. “Make no mistake; if Congress passes a national abortion ban, I will veto it,” Biden said.
Biden called for raising taxes on the wealthy and on large corporations, so they will pay their always unspecific “fair share.” He called for Congress to pass his “billionaire minimum tax,” because, “no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter.” But his call for higher taxes wasn’t exclusive to billionaires. “Under my plan, nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in taxes,” he said.
At one point, Biden received loud pushback after he accused some Republicans of holding entitlements hostage in a showdown over the nation’s debt limit. “Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” he said to loud boos. Biden was likely talking about Florida Senator Rick Scott, who released a proposal last year to sunset all federal legislation after five years. Biden went off script: “Anybody who wants it, contact my office, and I’ll give you a copy of the proposal. I’m not saying it’s a majority of you,” he said, adding that it likely wasn’t even a significant number. “But it’s being proposed by individuals. I’m not planning on naming them, but it’s being proposed by some of you.”
The president also took aim at big businesses, particularly oil companies, which he accused of profiting off of the global energy crisis. “It’s outrageous,” Biden said. “They invested too little of that profit to increase domestic production and keep gas prices down.”
He called for quadrupling the tax on corporate stock buybacks “to encourage long term investments instead.” And he called for Congress to take aim at so-called junk fees, things like surprise resort fees, and hidden cell phone, cable, and airline charges. “And we’ll prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 roundtrip for families just to sit together,” Biden said. “Baggage fees are bad enough – they can’t just treat your child like a piece of luggage.
Biden urged Congress to make it easier for workers to unionize by passing the Pro Act. “And let’s guarantee all workers a living wage,” he said.
During the speech, Biden noted the attendance of the parents of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old black man who was beaten to death by black Memphis police officers last month. Biden cited Nichols’s death as clear evidence for why the nation needs to pass police reform. In the wake of high-profile mass shootings in California, Biden also called for a renewed ban on so-called assault weapons. “We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994,” Biden said.
During his speech, Biden glossed over the immigration crisis at the southern border. Earlier Tuesday, Border Patrol officials testified at a House oversight hearing that Biden’s efforts since becoming president have led many immigrants to believe that the border is open. Bieen did not accept any responsibility for the record number of illegal border crossings during his tenure. Instead, he called for Democrats and Republicans to “come together on immigration and make it a bipartisan issue like it was before.”
“America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts,” Biden said. “If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers.”
Biden made no mention of the classified documents found in his garage and in the office of his think tank in recent months, and he made no direct mention of the Chinese spy balloon that floated over the country last week. Republicans have accused Biden of waiting too long to shoot it down, after it hovered over sensitive military facilities in Montana. “Make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China’s threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did,” Biden said.
Biden gave the speech ahead of an expected reelection announcement sometime this spring. At 80, Biden is already the oldest president in American history. If he were to win reelection in 2024, he would be in line to serve until he was 86.
The White House has tried to paint Biden’s first two years as president as the most successful in recent American history. But it appears that most Americans aren’t buying it. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that most Americans, or 62 percent, believe that Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” during his time in office. Likewise, most Americans think Biden has made little or no progress in terms of creating good jobs, improving roads and bridges, and making electric vehicles more affordable, according to the poll. With Republicans taking control of the House, Biden will have limited ability to advance his agenda through the divided Congress.
Biden’s approval rating is 43.2 percent. According to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 37 percent of Democrats want him to seek a second term.