March 7 (UPI) — Talking about historical threats to democracy, President Biden launched his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress Thursday evening, during which he listed his achievements, set his future agenda, and made his case to voters to elect him for a second term.
He promised Ukrainians that the U.S. would not back away from defending them in the face of the ongoing oppression by Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying of the Russian president’s actions: “It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.”
“We have to stand up to Putin,” Biden said. “We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. In a literal sense, history is watching.”
He also talked early about threats closer to home.
Referring to the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. capitol, Biden said, “You can’t love your country only when you win.”
The president focused heavily on economic populism, called for higher taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans and vowed to restore Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
“In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote ‘Women are not without electoral or political power,’ Biden said stridently from the podium. “No kidding. Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024. If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
Kate Cox, who attended as first lady Jill Biden‘s guest, was more than 10 weeks pregnant when she learned of her fetus’ fatal anomalies. Cox sued Texas for the right to terminate the nonviable pregnancy and later had to leave the state to receive abortion care.
An Indiana doctor who provided abortion care for a 10-year-old girl after she was raped and was denied an abortion in Ohio is also scheduled to attend.
Broader healthcare issues also were also a centerpiece of the president’s speech.
“Americans pay more for prescriptions drugs than anywhere in the world,” Biden intoned. “It’s wrong and I’m ending it.”
Biden also called for lowering insulin costs to a maximum of $35 a year for everyone who needs it and capping drug and other costs for seniors on Medicare.
He also called on wealthy Americans and corporations to pay additonal taxes, but promised his administration said wpui;d work to make the tax code more equitable.
“Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks?” Biden said, referring a tax break enacted by the Trump administration. “I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair! Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes. Nobody. Not one penny.”
The president officially announced the construction of a temporary port along the coast of Gaza to allow more humanitarian aid into the region as the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza continues.
Meanwhile, the families of American hostages being held in Gaza attended the speech to call attention to their loved ones who have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, many clad in white and wore the number 153 on their tops, the number of says the hostages have been held.
Other guests included two New York Police Department officers who were attacked in January in Times Square, several Border Patrol agents, whose attendance was designed to highlight illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border
The speech largely serves as the kickoff for Biden’s presidential reelection campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump who won sweeping victories in primaries on Super Tuesday this week.
For the lawmakers in attendance, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has urged Republicans to maintain decorum during the address. Many Republicans, including Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor-Greene, made repeated outbursts during last year’s speech.
Johnson made his request during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, three Republican lawmakers who attended the gathering told The Hill.
“Decorum is the order of the day,” Johnson told members, according to one lawmaker.
“He said we should carry ourselves with good decorum,” another member said.
Greene was non committal when asked if she would follow Johnson’s directions. “People have asked me a lot about decorum,” Greene said Thursday outside the Capitol. “And my answer back is … the House of Representatives, Congress as a whole and even the White House has broken decorum a long time ago. The American people are $34 trillion in debt, and the Biden administration’s open-border policies with over 10 million illegal aliens, 2 million got-aways and innocent Americans like Laken Riley being murdered — that broke [decorum].”
She continued, “So it depends on what the president has to say tonight. We’ll see what I think and feel at the time.”
Greene was referring to Laken Riley, a Georgia student who allegedly was killed by a 26-year-old man who officials have said was in the United States illegally.