(UnitedVoice.com) – President Joe Biden spoke before a joint session of Congress on March 7. The president delivered the final State of the Union Address of his first term. Biden is in the middle of his reelection campaign, so he tried to strike a bipartisan tone but couldn’t help but criticize Republicans, something the speaker of the House called out later.
Here are some highlights and reactions to the speech.
1. Words Matter, Not Murders
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) interrupted Biden at one point during the State of the Union and demanded he say the name of a college student, Laken Riley, who was murdered in Athens, Georgia. She was jogging on trails around the University of Georgia campus when an immigrant who entered the country illegally in 2022 killed her.
Biden responded to Greene by holding up a pin with the young woman’s name on it. He then appeared to mispronounce her name, saying either “Lanken” or “Lincoln” before saying she was “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.” He spoke to her parents, saying that his “heart goes out to” them. “Having lost children myself, I understand.”
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) went on CNN after the speech and criticized Biden for saying “illegal.” She said the president “should have said undocumented.” Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) took to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize Biden, saying he was “extremely disappointed” that he said “illegal.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said, “Let me be clear: No human being is illegal.”
2. Bidenomics Dead
The Biden administration went through a phase where they called the current economic conditions “Bidenomics.” Strangely, they used the term at a time when inflation was still extraordinarily high, and experts believed the country was headed toward a recession.
Those days are over (for the most part), and experts agree the economy has turned around. Many economic indicators are up, but Americans still feel the strain of high prices. Biden completely abandoned the tried-and-failed “Bidenomics” gimmick and talked up the current state of things.
At one point, Biden attacked the media and called the economic recovery, “the greatest comeback story never told.”
Voters, however, still aren’t buying it.
3. Republicans Didn’t Like It
Biden hit Republicans on several issues, including their failure to pass a border security bill and tax cuts for the rich. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), who was seen shaking his head behind Biden many times throughout the speech, called it “vitriolic” and “hyper-partisan.”
The speaker excused Republicans who heckled the president, saying there was a lot of emotion in the room. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) agreed, saying it was a “partisan stump speech.”
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