State of the Union: Biden calls for bipartisanship, defends economic record and sticks to progressive agenda | World News | Times Of Ahmedabad

Washington: In his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden highlighted the economic achievements of his term so far, reached out to a Republican-dominated House of Representatives with calls for bipartisanship, sent a signal that he would not compromise on his party’s progressive agenda, reiterated America’s focus on domestic manufacturing, made an impassioned appeal against violence of all forms, and sent a strong signal to external adversaries, Russia and China.

In a speech that has been widely seen as precursor to Biden announcing his intent to run for president again in 2024, the US President said, “I have come here to fulfil my constitutional duty to report on the state of the union. And here is my report. Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong.”

Biden used the phrase, “finish the job”, close to a dozen times in his speech, a sign that the president was focused on the remaining items on the agenda and wanted more time to do so.

Even as midterm elections, where Democrats succeeded in retaining the Senate but lost the House by a narrow margin, increased Biden’s political capital, the president continues to face unfavourable ratings. A Washington Post-ABC poll published on Tuesday said that while 36% believe that Biden has achieved “a great deal or good amount”, 62% believe that he has achieved “not very much or little or nothing”. According to Gallup, Biden averaged 41% approval in the second year of his office; only Donald Trump had a lower approval rating among presidents in the post-second world war era.

But the ratings haven’t deterred Biden from preparing for a bid at re-election and an announcement is expected in the spring. The president’s aides have let it be known that that the midterm results have shown that the administration’s legislative achievements have resonated with citizens, as has Biden’s firm opposition to who he refers to as extremist MAGA Republicans — a term to describe the Make America Great Again support constituency of Trump.

Calls for bipartisanship

In a recognition that the next two years of his presidency will require working with Republicans in the House, Biden began his speech by focusing on the need for bipartisanship and offering instances when the two parties have come together.

“Time and again, Democrats and Republicans came together. Came together to defend a stronger and safer Europe. Came together to pass a once-in-a-generation infrastructure law, building bridges to connect our nation and people. Came together to pass one of the most significant laws ever, helping veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.”

Biden said he had signed 300 bipartisan laws in the past two years, and told Republicans that citizens had sent a clear message. “Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere.”

Later in his speech, Biden returned to the theme of bipartisanship and offered an agenda for cooperation, particularly in the domain of fighting fentanyl production, sale and trafficking; taking care of veterans, fighting cancer; mental health and countering Big Tech. “We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit. And it’s time to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and impose stricter limits on the personal data these companies collect on all of us.”

Defending economic achievements

But the calls for bipartisanship did not take away from Biden’s focus on his accomplishments and defence of his party’s core agenda.

The president patted his administration on the back. “Two years ago, our economy was reeling…we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years. Two years ago, Covid had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, Covid no longer controls our lives. two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”

In a sign of the economic protectionism that has become a hallmark of American policy across administrations, and ties in with the global trend, Biden also hailed the return of manufacturing jobs to the US. “Where is it written that America can’t lead the world in manufacturing again? For too many decades, we imported products and exported jobs. Now, thanks to all we’ve done, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs.” Biden also said that American roads, American bridges, and American highways will be made with American products.

He focused on semiconductors, pointing out that the US, at one point, manufactured 40% of the world’s chips, a number that had dipped to 10%. Hailing the Chips Act that focuses on boosting semiconductor manufacturing at home, Biden said, “We are making sure the supply chain for America begins in America. We have already created 800,000 manufacturing jobs even without this law. With this new law, we will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs across the country. That’s going to come from companies that have announced more than $300 billion in investments in American manufacturing.”

He also hailed his administration’s record on infrastructure, saying that the US had dipped from being the number 1 in infra to 13 globally. Pointing out that the bipartisan infra law was the biggest US investment in the domain since President Dwight Eisenhower’s term in the 1950s, Biden said, “We have funded over 20,000 projects, including at major airports from Boston to Atlanta to Portland. These projects will put hundreds of thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, bridges, railroads, tunnels, ports and airports, clean water, and high-speed internet across America.”

But Biden’s economic record has been marred by inflation, which has caused the Federal Reserve to consistently raise interest rates and led to expectations of a recession. Biden acknowledged that inflation was an issue but said that the pandemic disrupted supply chains and Russia’s war against Ukraine disrupted food and energy supplies.

“But we are better positioned than any country on Earth. We have more to do, but here at home, inflation is coming down. Here at home, gas prices are down $1.50 a gallon since their peak. Food inflation is coming down. Inflation has fallen every month for the last six months while take home pay has gone up.”

The progressive agenda and deficit battle

In a signal to the Democratic core base, including its progressive and working class constituency, that that Republican-dominated House will not distract him from the party’s commitments on welfare or force him to accept spending cuts, Biden also focused on social safety nets, welfare, and spoke out against corporates who didn’t pay their “fair share” of taxes.

He first went against Big Pharma and pointed out that the Inflation Reduction Act would bring health care costs down. “One in ten Americans has diabetes…Insulin has been around for 100 years. It costs drug companies just $10 a vial to make. But Big Pharma has been unfairly charging people hundreds of dollars – and making record profits. Not anymore. We capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare.” He added that the law had also capped out of pocket costs for senior for health expenses at $2,000 a year.

The IRA, Biden said, was also America’s most significant investment in climate so far. “The climate crisis doesn’t care if your state is red or blue. It is an existential threat. We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren to confront it. I’m proud of how America is at last stepping up to the challenge.”

Saying that he was a capitalist, Biden argued that all he was asking for was big corporates to pay their fair share of taxes. “The idea that in 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes? That’s simply not fair. But now, because of the law I signed, billion-dollar companies have to pay a minimum of 15%.”

Biden then spoke out against Big Oil, pointing out that even as the world confronted an energy crisis, oil companies made record profits of $200 billion in the past year and made little investments to keep gas prices down.

Linking it all to the big debate on deficit that has engulfed the US and will lead to a crisis this summer, Biden then made a plea for the Congress to lift the debt ceiling. The president said that his administration had cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion. “Let us commit here tonight that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned.” Lifting the ceiling requires a majority in both houses of the US Congress, and Republicans have made it clear they would not do so unless it is accompanied by drastic spending cuts.

Biden then, in what was the crowning moment of his speech, aggressively attacked the Republicans for suggesting that they wanted to have sunset clauses on social security and Medicare. Republican lawmakers objected to the characterisation, to which Biden then — departing from the text — said he enjoyed “conversion” and apparently, there would not be issue with continuing these programmes. He then added let us stand up for seniors, a point at which House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy and the Republican conference stood alongside their Democratic colleagues in solidarity. Biden hammered the point further. “If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. And if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I will stop them. I will not allow them to be taken away. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.”

The president also advocated the need to pass antitrust enforcement legislations to ensure big online platforms did not give an unfair advantage to their own products; pushed for measures against “junk fees” across the aviation, hospitality and other service sectors where businesses added surcharges and fees as hidden costs; spoke out against non compete agreements which stifled the right of workers to shift jobs for higher pay; batted for trade unions and right to organise, giving public school teachers a raise, and extending educational access for children and students to pre-school and community college years — all these themes resonated with the unions which form a core support base of the Democrats and progressive lawmakers in the House.

Republican response

Responding to Biden’s speech, Arkansas governor and a former press secretary to Donald Trump when he was president, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Biden “unfit to be commander-in-chief” and accused him of being beholden to “woke fantasies”.

“Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.” She claimed that the dividing line in US politics was not between right and left but “crazy and normal”, depicting Democrats as the former.

She added, “In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country.”