President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address on March 1. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Updated March 1, 2022 at 11:20 p.m. EST|Published
March 1, 2022 at 7:27 a.m. EST
President Biden opened his first State of the Union address Tuesday night with a message touting unity and the power of democracy, setting up a sharp response to the major global crisis stemming from Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"Freedom will always triumph over tyranny," Biden said. "President Putin thought he could roll into Ukraine — and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never imagined."
The president's traditional address to a joint session of Congress comes as he confronts a stalled legislative agenda, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and spiraling inflation at home. In a wide-ranging speech, Biden urged Congress to pass legislation aimed at making the United States more economically competitive with China, and to confirm his Supreme Court nominee; vowed to fight inflation with proposals that would lower the cost of child care and prescription drugs; and implored Americans to stop seeing the pandemic through a partisan lens.
Biden entered the House to sustained applause and even drew bipartisan standing ovations at certain parts of his speech, such as when he voiced support for Ukraine and when he called for police to receive more funding. Still, there were moments when bitter partisanship bubbled through, with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) interrupting several times to shout "Build the wall!" and to challenge Biden when he spoke about the death of his son, a veteran.
Here's what to know:
Biden announced in his speech that the United States would close its airspace to Russian airlines, joining several other countries in seeking to further isolate Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
The audience inside the House chamber was significantly larger than the 200 people allowed last year when Biden delivered a speech to Congress that was not considered an official State of the Union address.
The address came as Biden is lobbying the Senate to confirm federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She would be the first Black woman to serve on the court in its 233-year history.
'Insulin', 'LGBTQ', 'Ruble': 20 words Biden entered into the State of the Union lexicon
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President Biden showed his support for women and the LGBTQ community during his State of the Union address on March 1. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Since 1790, presidents have used tens of thousands of different words in State of the Union addresses. Biden, in his first such speech, added to the list. According to a Washington Post analysis, there were 20 words Biden spoke tonight that had never been used before in an official State of the Union address.
The newly spoken words thread through current events and rising issues of the day. Some related to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine — Kyiv, ruble and Ukrainians — and others to health care — covid, immunocompromised, insulin and variant. He was also the first president to use the acronym LGBTQ in the speech.
National reporter investigating health politics and policy
For two years, Biden's aides have kept him away from crowds, especially indoors, worried that the now-79-year-old president could be incapacitated by a coronavirus infection. But that strategy is no more. On Tuesday night, Biden mingled at length with unmasked lawmakers after his speech, the most visible sign of how the White House is seeking to portray a return to post-covid normality. While lawmakers had to test negative to attend Biden's speech, and Biden is vaccinated and boosted, public health experts have warned that testing does not capture all covid-positive people — and that elderly people remain particularly vulnerable to breakthrough infections.
'Republicans believe that parents matter,' Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says in GOP response
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In her response to Biden's State of the Union, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) spoke at length about the issues of coronavirus restrictions and schools, in an indication of the issues on which Republicans plan to focus in the November midterms.
Reynolds said that in Iowa, "we honored your freedoms and saw right away that lockdowns and school closures, they came with their own significant cost, that mandates weren't the answer."
As GOP candidates across the country emphasize parents' right to have a say in their children's education, Reynolds delivered a refrain that will likely be heard again before November: "Republicans believe that parents matter."
"It was true before the pandemic, and it has never been more important to say out loud: Parents matter," she said. "They have a right to know and to have a say in what their kids are being taught. Families also have every right to live in a safe and a secure community, and that begins with a safe and secure country."
Biden, a creature of Capitol Hill, is completely in his element after the speech. One lawmaker after another has been approaching him for a hello, a chat, a hug, and the schmoozer-in-chief has been happily obliging. How long will it take for Biden to leave the House chamber? Folks, we could be here for a while.
Federal government, arcane civil service provisions, policy, Veterans Affairs.
Biden referred to the sprawling federal government as an example of the country's return to a post-pandemic normal in the workplace, saying "the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person."After many fits and starts, federal agencies whose staffs have teleworked for nearly two years are preparing to bring them back to the office this month and next. But federal offices have already changed permanently from what they looked like before the pandemic. As in the private sector, work from home is here to stay in the government. Few agencies plan to require every employee who has worked remotely to return to the bricks-and-mortar office full time. A hybrid workplace is more likely, and tens of thousands of employees will continue to telework on a permanent basis.
'We will save democracy,' Biden says as he concludes his remarks
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As his remarks neared a close, Biden declared that "the State of the Union is strong because you, the American people, are strong."
He also cast the current moment as a pivotal one for the nation, telling those assembled in the House chamber, "It is in this moment that our character of this generation is formed, our purpose is found, our future is forged."
"Well, I know this nation," Biden said. "We'll meet the test: protect freedom and liberty, expand fairness and opportunity. And we will save democracy. As hard as those times have been, I'm more optimistic about America today than I've been my whole life — because I see the future that's within our grasp, because I know there's simply nothing beyond our capacity."
Biden speech clocks in at just over an hour
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The State of the Union address lasted about an hour and two minutes, slightly shorter than the joint address to Congress that Biden delivered last April. It was briefer than former president Donald Trump's typical State of the Union speech, which averaged an hour and 20 minutes, according to the American Presidency Project.
National reporter focusing on climate change
Everyone expected going into this speech that climate change would be eclipsed by the war in Ukraine and inflation concerns. But it is striking how infrequently it was raised by a president whose administration has pledged to take ambitious climate action.I counted only two mentions — and that's one day after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report warning that world leaders have a "brief and rapidly closing window" to prevent the worst effects of climate change.Biden framed his push for new climate legislation as a way to lower Americans' energy bills by an average of $500 a year.He mentioned Democrats' proposal to devote $300 billion to tax incentives for producers and purchasers of solar, wind and nuclear energy, which is stalled in the Senate. But he chose to highlight the ways the bill would help people weatherize their homes and businesses, and buy electric vehicles. "You'll never have to pay at the gas pump again," he said.This was not the emotional appeal for action we heard from Biden as a presidential candidate. It was climate change cast as a pocketbook issue — a strategic move at a time when rising gas prices are on voters' minds.
Fact Checker: Biden wrong on gun manufacturer liability
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"Look, repeal the liability shield. It makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can't be sued."
This is false. Gun manufacturers can certainly be sued — and some other industries have some liability protections.
Biden appears to be referring to the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which was passed after a wave of lawsuits filed against gun manufacturers by municipalities and gun-control advocates.
The 2005 law does not guarantee blanket immunity, and it has some exceptions. Manufacturers or dealers can be sued if they knowingly sold a product that would be used to commit a crime. They can be sued if they were negligent in selling the product to someone they knew was unfit (i.e., a child or someone who was drunk). They can be sued for another technical negligence claim ("negligence per se") that relates to the violation of a safety statute.
The Connecticut Supreme Court had ruled two years ago that the laws did not protect manufacturers from claims that wrongful advertising resulted in injury or death. That led the way to a $73 million settlement between family members of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting and insurers for the now-bankrupt Remington Arms, manufacturer of the Bushmaster rifle used in the killings. The families' lawsuit argued that Remington marketed the semiautomatic weapon specifically to young and at-risk men with suggestive advertising and product placement in violent video games.
Before this ruling, the law appeared to provide a relatively unique federal legal shield. Negligence claims in tort law generally allow consumers to sue for negligence caused by carelessness, which doesn't always involve a violation of the law or knowingly entrusting someone unfit to handle the product.
Few industries have federal liability immunity, but Biden is wrong to say gun manufacturers are alone. Vaccine manufacturers have limited protection from lawsuits if their vaccine led to an injury. The federal government enacted this immunity to encourage companies to produce more vaccines without the fear of lawsuits, for their benefit to public health. Another example is federal protection for the airline industry from lawsuits arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But unlike the gun law, both cases established a compensation plan for victims to recover money for damages.
Reporter covering health and medicine
As part of a "unity agenda," Biden promoted his long-cherished goal of ending "cancer as we know it." But many scientists say that is an exceedingly tough challenge. Cancer is many different diseases. Earlier this year, the president announced the relaunch of the cancer "moonshot" he headed as vice president during the Obama administration.But Biden's effort suffered an almost-immediate setback, when Eric Lander, the president's science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, resigned after a White House investigation found he had demeaned subordinates. Lander's office was overseeing the moonshot effort. Biden named two officials, including Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health, to temporarily take over Lander's tasks.Biden also called on Congress to fund his proposed advanced research agency for diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes. But the proposal has been bogged down by disputes over whether the agency should be housed at NIH or elsewhere.
National reporter investigating health politics and policy
For the second straight year, Biden made the same joke as he called for banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. "You think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests?" Biden said, appealing to hunters, which was an apparent ad lib compared to his prepared remarks. Biden made the same joke about deer and Kevlar vests last year, when he also called for a ban on assault weapons.
National security reporter covering the Justice Department
Biden said his Justice Department would name a "chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud." That's interesting, but investigating and charging cases of pandemic-related fraud is something the department has done steadily since the Trump administration. In March 2021, for example, the department revealed it had charged 474 people over the preceding year with trying to steal more than $569 million through criminal fraud schemes connected to the pandemic and seized at least $580 million in civil proceedings.
Biden talked up the importance of simultaneously achieving border security and reworking immigration laws, declaring, "We can do both." But he has struggled to make strides on both fronts during his time in office — drawing the ire of lawmakers and activists on both ends of the political spectrum and making immigration a political liability across the map for him and his party heading into the midterms.
Biden tries to navigate the difficult politics of the coronavirus
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President Biden during his State of the Union address on March 1 said that the country is "moving forward safely, back to more normal routines." (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Biden, pivoting to the coronavirus section of his speech, walked a fine line as he laid out a four-point plan to continue fighting the pandemic.
The president said he would stay committed to providing vaccines and treatments, speed up the fight against variants, avoid shutdowns at schools and businesses, and continue to vaccinate the world.
The White House and many Democrats are eager to show progress on fighting the virus, especially as support for Biden's handling of the pandemic fades and issues like school closures are expected to be hotly debated in this year's midterm elections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month rolled back its mask recommendations, leading to a strikingly different visual at this year's address compared with Biden's remarks last year to Congress, where lawmakers were masked.
But many public health experts are worried that the administration is moving too quickly to reduce protections during a pandemic that is still leading to nearly 2,000 U.S. deaths per day. Immunocompromised Americans are at high risk, and many people still report complications weeks or months after their initial infections.
"We're leaving no one behind or ignoring anyone's needs as we move forward," Biden said, trying to reassure skeptics.
Biden also appeared to edit his comments in real time.
The speech's prepared text read that scientists are "working hard" to authorize vaccines for young children, "and we'll be ready with plenty of vaccines when they do." But Biden changed that to "if and when they do" — a reflection of how federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration have sometimes bristled at the White House's vaccine plans, saying political appointees were too hasty to promise booster shots last year, for instance.
Federal Reserve and domestic economy
Biden outlined a number of reasons inflation has soared during the pandemic: broken supply chains, worker shortages, a pandemic that dragged on longer than many imagined. But he did not name another major factor often cited by economists: the sheer size and scope of his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. When the sprawling rescue package was being passed, the White House argued that it was better to go big on a package than risk going too small. But in time, it became clear that the flood of money that hit people's bank accounts and the broader economy was too much to fill the hole left behind by the covid recession. Stimulus checks helped drive consumer demand, which has stayed far above pre-pandemic levels, crimping supply chains further as people renovate their homes or buy new cars. Economists hope that as that fiscal support wears off this year, demand can also normalize and help bring inflation down, too. But only time will tell.
Reporter focusing on the politics of abortion
Tonight I was listening to see if Biden would address abortion — and he just did. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, only one other Democratic president (Barack Obama in 2015) has ever broached the subject in a State of the Union address.But many abortion rights advocates will still be disappointed by this speech. Since taking office, Biden has never said the word "abortion" in a public address. Many advocates were hoping that would change tonight. Instead, Biden referenced "a woman's right to choose."
The far-left call of "defund the police" is one that Biden and his aides have furiously resisted throughout his presidential campaign and now at the White House. But it's notable that the president used one of his biggest megaphones of the year to (again) push back on the idea, saying in his address: "The answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police. Fund them." White House aides also like to note that Republicans, in their own way, voted against funding law enforcement by voting against the American Rescue Plan, which had money for local police — an argument that drives Republicans crazy.
Following on my colleague Bob Barnes's insight about the Supreme Court justices finally breaking their neutrality to applaud Biden's praise for Breyer, I found it just as striking that the five justices remained sitting, sans applause, when Biden mentioned his historic nomination to the high court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Reporter covering the U.S. Supreme Court
Biden learned the way to coax Supreme Court justices from their studied neutrality: praise one of them.The four other justices stood and applauded when Biden praised retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer."I'd like to honor someone who dedicated his life to serve this country: Justice Breyer — an Army veteran, Constitutional scholar, and retiring justice of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Breyer, thank you for your service."Breyer is retiring at the end of the term — provided his successor is confirmed by then. Biden put in a plug for the woman he wants as a replacement, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. He called her "one of our nation's top legal minds, who will continue Justice Breyer's legacy of excellence."
This riff by Biden is so core to the promise of his presidency and who he is — talking about seeing covid not as a partisan issue and instead "for what it is: a God-awful disease."This line, too: "Let's stop seeing each other as enemies, and start seeing each other for who we are: fellow Americans."Biden called for a "reset." This is what he campaigned on, what he came to office promising — but so far, that has proved all too elusive.
Throughout this address so far is a real pro-America undercurrent — a sort of populism and patriotism fused together that would not be out of place in a speech by former president Donald Trump. Going after the Russian oligarchs and their yachts. Taking on the wealthy "foreign" companies. Making an appeal to the working class. Repeatedly talking about Buy American. At one point, Biden so inspired the chamber that a spontaneous "USA! USA! USA!" chant broke out.
After Biden promoted the leftover parts of the Artist Formerly Known as Build Back Better, he asked rhetorically, "What are we waiting for?" Well, two members of his own party, for the most part. Manchin may have officially killed the initial bill late last year, but Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema had been largely opposed to the party's tax provisions, especially those that hit corporations. From inside the chamber, my colleague Marianna Sotomayor reports that Manchin stayed seated during Biden's reference to the child tax credit, a big Democratic accomplishment that the party was hoping to extend through Build Back Better.
Federal Reserve and domestic economy
Biden pitched his "better plan to fight inflation." But combating inflation is ultimately the job of the Federal Reserve, which famously guards its independence from politics. However, the Fed can never escape Washington's churn, and five of Biden's Fed nominees are waiting for a confirmation vote. Republicans, for now, are boycotting a vote on the nominees, saying they cannot come to the table so long as they have concerns over one of Biden's picks. The Fed is about to raise interest rates, and it will do so whether or not Biden's nominees are in place. But to the extent the White House is looking to tackle inflation, Fed nominees may be Biden's most direct path.
By my count, Biden is asking Congress to pass more than a dozen pieces of legislation. Most of these are liberal dreams that will run right up against a Republican filibuster in the Senate: protecting voting rights (several versions of those bills failed when Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia wouldn't agree to remove the filibuster for this issue), passing universal background checks for guns, enshrining a federal right to abortion and LGBTQ rights. But, as Biden mentioned, there is some bipartisan agreement on a bill designed to shore up America's competitiveness with China, the Innovation and Competition Act. Both chambers of Congress have passed versions of this and a final bill could be on Biden's desk soon.
Biden is outlining the second part of his economic agenda, which was formerly known as Build Back Better until the package fell apart due to opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Tonight, Biden is talking about various components of that legislation but notably avoiding the name. Instead, he only said he was focused on "building a better America." This comes after many aides and allies have urged Biden and the White House to focus on the specific components of the package and eschew the name.
Reporter covering health-care policy and other social policy issues
A year into his tenure, the health-care agenda Biden laid out Tuesday night is more modest than his fervent focus as a candidate and a fledgling president on widening access to affordable care. Biden reprised his call to lower drug prices by allowing the Medicare program to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. And once again, he asked Congress to extend increases in federal subsidies to help consumers afford monthly premiums for Affordable Care Act health plans — increases that grew out of last year's American Rescue Plan law and are due to expire after this year.But nowhere in his speech did the president mention any expansion of Medicare benefits to include hearing, dental or vision care — a part of the Build Back Better Act that is stalled on Capitol Hill amid Democratic infighting. And unlike in his first-year address to Congress last April, nowhere Tuesday night was one of Democrats' trademark lines that Biden frequently embraced: "Health care is a right, not a privilege."
Democrats have largely dumped the "Build Back Better" moniker for Biden's chief domestic policy priority — the same bill Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) threw a dagger through in December. Now, it seems the president has a new label for it — "Building a Better America" — that he began using during his address. Personally, of the two, I think the former was a bit more catchy.
National reporter investigating health politics and policy
Biden's speech is front-loaded with comments about Ukraine and his economic plans. But the president will also talk about the United States getting closer to "normal" after the coronavirus pandemic — an effort urged on by some of his former health advisers, a contributor to the effort told me. Ezekiel Emanuel, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist who advised Biden's transition team, and other former advisers in January called for a new approach to covid-19 that would focus on living with the virus, rather than eradicating it. Since then, the former Biden advisers and about two-dozen other outside experts have been meeting with the White House, talking through new initiatives to fight the virus. One idea that Biden is set to discuss tonight: a "test-to-treat" plan, where people who test positive at pharmacies can be prescribed medication on the spot. Stay tuned for more later in his remarks.
Talking about American manufacturing growth, Biden just said, "As Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown says, 'It's time to bury the label 'Rust Belt.'" I would just like to say, fact check: true. I am one of a number of reporters who has received a handwritten note from Brown after using that phrase in a story, urging us to retire it, because it is, in his view, both inaccurate and offensive.
Associate editor and senior national security correspondent
In his 2020 State of the Union speech, the last before tonight, President Donald Trump did not mention Vladimir Putin or Russia even once. Biden never mentioned Putin in his address to a joint session of Congress last April and referred to Russia only in passing during mentions of his climate agenda and election interference. Times have changed.
Federal Reserve and domestic economy
The economic recovery has been remarkable by many measures, including job growth that smashed expectations in 2021. But that progress has been overshadowed by the highest inflation in 40 years, and it's clear that the prices people see shopping for groceries or airline tickets serve as a key litmus test for how they view and experience the economy. The most visceral example: gasoline prices, which can practically be a billboard for rising prices. The cost of gas and energy is now getting an added strain because of the war in Ukraine, and Biden used his speech to announce a major release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But it's unclear how far that move will go, and energy and gas inflation could exacerbate Americans' poor assessment of the economy.
One thing that Team Biden has loved doing throughout his presidency is turning the Trump-era punchline of "Infrastructure Week" into a brag of his bipartisan infrastructure law — an achievement Donald Trump could never land. It happened again during his State of the Union, with Biden boasting: "We're going to have an infrastructure decade."
Associate editor and senior national security correspondent
Moving quickly into the Ukraine crisis at the beginning of his speech, Biden declared, "American diplomacy matters. American resolve matters." Russian President Vladimir Putin "thought the West wouldn't respond," Biden said as he launched into the measures he and the rest of the West have taken to isolate Russia. "He thought he would divide us at home" Biden said amid frequent interruptions for standing ovations across the aisle. "But Putin was wrong."
A laugh-out-loud moment: Schumer stood up amid the Republican booing over Biden's criticism of the 2017 GOP tax law, looked like he was about to clap, but then realized he was alone and sat back down. But a heartbeat later, Democrats roared with loud applause as Biden touted the American Rescue Plan.
In recent years, Washington has become so tribal, so partisan, so politicized that it is rare for Democrats and Republicans to agree on anything. So it was striking to see nearly the entire chamber repeatedly stand and cheer for Biden's tough words on Russia. It turns out that seizing Russian-owned yachts, luxury apartments and private jets is the rare bipartisan issue that everyone can get behind!
I had wondered how much of an ovation that Republicans — many critical of the administration's policy toward Ukraine — would give Biden tonight. But during the speech so far — which has been almost singularly focused on Ukraine — Republicans have been largely approving and supportive. For instance, Biden's line that the United States would "defend every inch of territory of NATO countries with the full force of our collective power" garnered a standing ovation from many GOP lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.), the Ukrainian American House member that has led much of the party's response on the issue.
As Biden announced a Justice Department task force to go after Russian oligarchs, he used language quite similar to what one of the most hawkish Republicans in Congress said: "We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets," Biden said Tuesday. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) last week noted that imposing sanctions on oligarchs is quite bipartisan and said: "I want to see cops go in and take apartments, fine art, and seize yachts from a bunch of thugs and crooks."
It's not surprising that Biden is beginning his State of the Union focusing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's a major crisis, with ripples that impact just about every single nation. But it's also a reminder that being president of the United States means owning every crisis, every challenge, every disaster. Even just a few weeks ago, Biden very well might have expected to start this address in a very different way.
Biden's very first (scripted) sentence mentioned covid, but in an almost wishful way, tacitly framing it — at least initially — as something that is almost behind us: "Last year covid-19 kept us apart. This year we are finally together again."
One of the great State of the Union traditions from the Before Times was the tale of lawmakers who would snag the coveted aisle seats hours before the address, just so he or she could get the few seconds of presidential face time as he walked down the aisle for the speech. (Eliot L. Engel, the former New York Democrat, was famous for this.) This year, in a State of the Union that is still trying to adhere to some social distancing, there was no such seat-saving and lawmakers had assigned seats with their tickets. Among the lucky folks who landed an aisle seat were Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Nydia M. Velázquez (N.Y.), and Reps. Kevin Brady (Tex.) and Michael McCaul (Tex.) on the Republican side.
Going into tonight's State of the Union, I was already planning to watch for how, exactly, Biden speaks about Ukraine. Does he frame it as a question of democracy versus autocracy? Or does he really personalize it in a way he hasn't done so far — lifting up the stories of the brave Ukrainians who stayed to fight, or the stories of those who fled, some walking for miles in the frigid dark, carrying toddlers in their arms. These, in many ways, are the stories that have so riveted the nation, and the world. Based on the excerpts of his speech so far, it looks like the former. This bit, for instance, reads more like a Wikipedia entry than soaring rhetoric: "That's why the NATO Alliance was created to secure peace and stability in Europe after World War II. The United States is a member along with 29 other nations." But again, we'll know for sure in just a few minutes.
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