Feb. 6 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will travel to Wisconsin and Florida later this week to showcase his economic agenda, as well as plans to lower health care costs, following his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
Biden’s trip to Madison, Wis., on Wednesday will focus on the latest positive job report, and his economic agenda to create good-paying union jobs, one day after he is expected to tell Americans that the “state of the economy is strong.”
“Tomorrow night, President Biden will highlight the historic progress we have made to bring the economy back from the pandemic and create more jobs in a two-year period than under any other president on record,” the White House said in a statement Monday.
“Our progress over the last two years shows that his economic strategy is working,” the White House added.
This year’s State of the Union follows record-high inflation and energy prices in 2022, which Biden has addressed on numerous occasions leading up to and following the midterm elections.
“We are making real progress tackling inflation and lowering costs,” Biden said in a statement last month after wholesale inflation dropped 0.5% in December.
On Thursday, Biden will travel to Tamp, Fla., to focus on his plan to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and lower healthcare costs, according to the White House, which previewed what the president is expected to say in his speech to the country Tuesday night.
“He will discuss progress lowering costs and providing more breathing room for families, including cutting prescription drug costs, health insurance premiums and energy bills,” the White House said, “while driving the uninsured rate to historic lows.”
Biden warned before November’s midterm elections, that a Republican takeover of Congress could put Medicare and Social Security in jeopardy.
“The Inflation Reduction Act locks in place those lower healthcare premiums for millions of Americans that get their coverage through the Affordable Care Act,” Biden said in a speech last September.
“Every single Republican voted against the Inflation Reduction Act,” Biden said. “And when it actually came time to do something about inflation around the kitchen table, every single one of them said no.”
Biden issued the same warning one week before the midterms during a campaign visit to Florida.
“They’re coming after your Social Security and Medicare, and they’re saying it out loud,” Biden told a crowd in Miami Gardens in November of 2022.
This week’s trips following Biden’s State of the Union address will “showcase how the president’s plan is creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, lowering costs for families, investing in our future and delivering for families too often left behind,” the White House said Friday in a statement.
The trips through several key swing states are also stirring speculation that Biden may soon announce plans to run for a second term in 2024, especially after telling reporters in November that he would make an official decision “early next year.”
“Our intention is to run again, that’s been our intention, regardless of what the outcome of this election was,” Biden said following the midterm elections. “My guess is it’ll be early next year that we make that judgment,” he added.
Biden’s travel plans are part of a larger-scale White House campaign following the annual speech, as Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Georgia to promote green energy initiatives and other Cabinet members travel to dozens of other states to promote their accomplishments.
On Monday, the Agriculture Department announced the Biden administration had delivered on its promises to invest in rural communities and climate-smart agriculture.
“President Biden has passed a historic economic agenda to rebuild our infrastructure , supply chains and manufacturing and reduce costs for families,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
“As part of these historic achievements, USDA is working to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out and, transform our food system so that it works for everyone and creates economic opportunity for all of our farmers, ranchers and foresters, not just a few,” Vilsack added.
As Biden prepares to deliver his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., announced plans to boycott the president’s speech, saying she does not want to “listen to him continue to lie.”
“I’m not going to sit there and listen to him lie and then watch the media and other members of Congress applaud his lies,” Miller told Breitbart News in an interview over the weekend.
Miller has accused Biden of lying about the impact of his policies on energy prices and about the southern border with Mexico being secure.
President Biden’s State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST. It can be viewed live on WH.gov/sotu.