President Joe Biden delivered his first formal State of the Union address focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation.
The Ukraine crisis was a primary focus of Biden’s message on Mar. 2: the president praised the unified support from allied countries, which include crippling economic sanctions and the closure of airspaces to Russian flights. He also decried the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“To every Ukrainian — their fearlessness, their courage, their determination inspires the world,” Biden said, adding that “Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been.”
Biden called for people to get vaccinated, children included, and for the distribution of antiviral medication to protect vulnerable people. He also called for the country at large to get back to in-person work “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again,” Biden said. “People working from home can feel safe to begin to return to the office.”
Overall, Biden delivered cautiously optimistic thoughts on the projected end of the pandemic. “I cannot promise a new variant won’t come,” Biden said. “But I can promise you we’ll do everything within our power to be ready if it does.”
Following the address, Biden released a new pandemic road map that focuses on expediting treatments and vaccinations, making healthy vaccinations possible for children, and offering government support to children who have lost their families to the virus.
Also worth noting is that the majority of attendees at the address did not wear masks, in accordance with the masks-optional guidance issued by the Capitol’s Attending Physician Brian Monahan in late Feb.
Biden addressed the state of the U.S. economy, which has reached its highest level of inflation in decades. Biden cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the addition of 6.5 billion new jobs in 2021, the largest single year gain on record for the U.S.
“The economy grew at a rate of 5.7 percent last year, the strongest growth in nearly 40 years,” Biden said.
Biden also praised the recent bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed in Nov. 2021. This bill will allow for repairs to 65,000 miles of road and 1,500 bridges across the country.
Biden also used the address as an opportunity to counter opposition, and to call for bipartisan unity.
Biden doubled down on his intention to increase police funding, a controversial undertaking he announced in Feb. “The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police,” Biden said, stating that the increased funding will go toward training efforts, and will work in tandem with gun safety laws also in development.
Furthermore, Biden called for an end to the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let’s use this moment to reset. Let’s stop looking at Covid-19 as a partisan dividing line and see it for what it is: a God-awful disease,” Biden said. “We can’t change how divided we’ve been, but we can change how we move forward — on Covid-19 and other issues we must face together.”