President Biden delivered his third Union of State speech in front of the US Congress on Tuesday. Biden just completed the half term of his position as the President of the US. This time’s Union of State speech was different from his previous two speeches as this year, the control of the House was in the hands of the Republican Party. President Biden also talked about his bid for the 2024 Presidential Election. He is hoping to enter into a second term as the President of the US, similar to former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden was the Vice President.
One of the first things he talked about was the unity amongst the Republicans and the Democrats for acting in the interest of people in the US. He congratulated Republican Kevin McCarthy for being elected as the House Speaker. President Biden specially made a note of accomplishments made by the US government such as infrastructure development, investment in microchip business, assisting Ukraine during the war, legal protections for homosexuals, and many others. Both parties played a crucial role in passing these decisions in the House. President Biden said that even though it has been said often that Republicans and Democrats working together is impossible, both parties have proved otherwise over the past two years.
President Biden also talked about when the opposition stayed in the way of the administration. He talked about the COVID relief fund and legislation against rising inflation which was strongly opposed by the Republicans. These efforts from Democrats were expected to reduce healthcare spending for the people of the US. In his previous two years, President Biden was able to effortlessly follow his legislative agenda as the Democrats had control over the House. But now the US House of Representatives is being managed by the Republicans, President Biden is bound to have a tough time passing any legislation in the House without taking Republicans on his side.
However, President Biden also talked about the challenges that the US House is about to face in the coming days and months. The Democrats as the ruling party are trying to increase the borrowing limit to toggle the issue of US default on the national debt. Which, the Republicans are demanding to connect the borrowing limit and spending cuts. Addressing this situation, Biden especially referenced the former President of the US, Donald Trump, who was a Republican. He said, no president has added more to the national debt than Mr. Trump.
President Biden talked about many government-run programs for the elderly people in the country and how spending cuts would affect those. He asked Republicans to prepare their budget plan, which then will be compared with the ones prepared by the Democrats and then both parties will sit and discuss both plans. This will indeed expose the intentions of Republicans and their proposal to apply spending cuts on government-run plans. The reactions from the Republicans to Biden’s comments show why the Democrats and Republicans can't work together, at least for now. Biden further talked on other topics such as police reforms and gun control in the country, garnering an emotional response from the guests.
