President Joe Biden will issue a call for an economic agenda on Tuesday, saying he is building an “economy that leaves no one behind” that will provide real benefits to the most neglected households in “blue collar” America.
According to excerpts from the State of the Union speech released by the White House, the president will build on the 12 million jobs created under his watch over the past two years to quickly recover from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden will argue that the recovery has benefited middle- and low-income families who have suffered for decades. Despite a strong labor market, he has weak approval ratings on his handling of an economy plagued by high inflation during his tenure.
“Economic planning is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten. In the midst of the economic upheaval of the last forty years, too many people have been left behind or treated as if they were invisible,” said Biden.
“Perhaps you watch it at home. You remember the job you lost. And you wonder if there is another way for you and your children to get ahead without moving. I asked. That is why we are building an economy where no one is left behind,” he said.
Biden’s speech came at an inflection point in his presidency, after the first two years of his tenure were dominated by recovery from the worst of the pandemic, an economic explosion that created record employment but also high inflation, and the response to Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.
After November’s midterm elections, Republicans could take control of the House of Representatives, which would certainly hamper Biden’s legislative ambitions and could lead to major clashes, especially over raising the debt ceiling. But Democrats still hold a majority in the Senate, meaning the president will be able to secure confirmation of judicial nominees and executive appointments.
“To my fellow Republicans, if we worked together in the last Congress, there’s no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress. People are sending a clear message. Fight for war, strength for strength, conflict for conflict, don’t get us,” Biden said.
But Republican leaders couldn’t accept Biden’s bipartisanship message. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas and former White House press secretary, will deliver the opposition party’s official response to the State of the Union, accusing Democrats of being part of the “radical left” and preoccupied with “wake fantasy” instead of focus. in ordinary America.
“In radical left America, Washington pays your taxes and burns the money you earn, but you are crushed by high gas prices, empty store shelves, and our children are taught to hate one race, but not to love one. others or our great country,” Sanders will say, according to a quote released before the speech, adding: “The Biden administration seems more interested in waking up fantasy than the reality that Americans experience every day.”
Biden also hopes to use Tuesday’s speech to tout the benefits of massive government subsidies that have been put in place to boost domestic manufacturing and infrastructure. Meanwhile, he will demand higher taxes on big business and the richest Americans, including quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks and introducing a tax on billionaires to reduce the deficit.
The president will also give a speech on foreign policy. The remarks came as tensions between the US and China suddenly escalated after the Pentagon detected a Chinese spy balloon flying over the US and shot it down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
The episode led to the cancellation of a planned trip to China by Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, and dashed hopes of a detente between Washington and Beijing after Biden’s meeting with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, in November.
On Europe, Biden is expected to renew calls for the US Congress and America’s allies to continue supporting Ukraine with military and financial aid to resist the Russian invasion as the war enters its second year. But there are some tensions on the economic front, with European capitals upset that Biden passed an expansive subsidy scheme for clean energy that could divert green investment from Europe to the US.
The mixed results of the midterm elections have boosted Biden’s standing in his party since he avoided the more defeats in congressional races that usually afflict presidents during their first terms. Despite concerns about his age — Biden is 80 — he expects to launch his 2024 campaign for re-election in the coming weeks or months.
The president’s approval rating has rebounded in recent months, but he remains unpopular. According to the Realclearpolitics.com poll average, 51.5 percent of Americans disapprove of his job as president, while 44.2 percent approve.
In his speech, Biden will address the trauma of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump, but added that the institutions of American government are still intact.
“Two years ago, our democracy faced the greatest threat since the Civil War,” he said. “Today, although bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”