WASHINGTON (CN) — In a forceful State of the Union address, President Joe Biden laid out his vision for the future and made the case for a second term in office.
The speech at times felt like one of Biden’s campaign rallies, with the president highlighting accomplishments in his term and criticizing former President Donald Trump.
A key theme was Biden’s continued call for Congress to pass an emergency national security spending package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Senate passed a roughly $95 billion compromise bill last month, but the legislation faces slim prospects in the House where Speaker Mike Johnson has resisted efforts to bring it to a vote.
“This bill would save lives and bring order to the border,” Biden said. “My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done. We need to act.
In the Middle East, Israel’s war in Gaza has become a potentially defining part of Biden’s presidency, with growing frustrations over Israel’s conduct in the war. Indeed, his speech came as protestors gathered outside the White House to call for him to pursue a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden called the last five months of war “gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America.” He noted that since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, “most of whom are not Hamas.”
Biden announced that the U.S. military would build a temporary pier in Gaza to facilitate humanitarian aid from the Mediterranean Sea, but said Israel and Hamas must do more to ease the suffering of the Palestinians.
“As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution,” he said. “There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity.”
Turning to domestic issues, Biden rolled out the highlights typically touted by the White House about his tenure, including the bipartisan infrastructure law, job growth and his crusade against junk fees.
“It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story ever told,” he said. “America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.”
Biden said there’s still work to be done, including lowering the price of prescription drugs, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on more drugs, approving more funding on women’s health research, lowering the cost of housing, expanding early childhood education opportunities and making college more affordable.
He also called for a revamped tax code to increase federal tax rates for billionaires from 8.2% to 25%.
“Imagine what that could do for America. Imagine a future with affordable child care so millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy,” he said. “Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.”
Biden didn’t shy from hot-button topics, decrying book bans, supporting transgender Americans and calling for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“None of this violates the Second Amendment or vilifies responsible gun owners,” he said.
Biden also laid out the stakes of the 2024 election, saying the U.S. is in an “unprecedented time.”
“What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time,” he said.
Biden closed by leaning into criticism of his age. He said he’s been around a long time and has frequently “seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.”
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” he said. “I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it.”
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