State of the Union

 The State of the Union Address is an annual message delivered by the President of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress. The president addresses the current state of the nation. 

  President Joe Biden conducted an address on March 1, 2022. Due to COVID-19, the address did not occur last year. 

  Firstly, Biden spoke on the events unfolding in Ukraine. He stated, “[Putin] thought he could roll into Ukraine, and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.” 

  He referred to every Ukrainian, including President Zelensky, as fearless, determined, and courageous. The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States was at the address. Additionally, he confirmed that the United States of America stands with the Ukrainian people and hinted that he believes that Putin is a dictator. 

  He referred to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance, whose job is to safeguard freedom, and the need to secure peace. He stressed the importance of diplomacy and Putin’s lack thereof.

 He stated, “Putin was wrong. We are ready. We are united, and that’s what we did. We stayed united. We prepared extensively and carefully.”

  He examined that Russian lies were countered with truth, and how Putin will be held accountable by the free world. He explained the European Union, including France, Germany, Italy, as well as countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and many others were causing Russia pain in their manner. They are causing pain by creating economic sanctions, cutting off Russia’s largest banks from the international banking system, and making Putin’s war worth nothing. 

  He stated,”[The United States] are giving more than $1 billion in direct assistance to Ukraine, and will continue to aid the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and help ease their suffering.” However, he made it clear that American forces will not engage with Russian forces in Ukraine, but NATO territory will be protected.

  Unrelated to the situation in Ukraine, Biden announced that the “United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world.” This is meant to help decrease gas prices.

  Biden addressed COVID-19 relief and how he passed the American Rescue Plan. He touched on the vaccination status of the nation, and how 75 percent of adult Americans are fully vaccinated and hospitalizations are down by 77 percent. He also explained the effect that was inflicted on the economy due to COVID-19. He also advanced that the plan helped cut the cost of health insurance. 

  He touched on the tax cut, involving $2 trillion, passed in the previous administration that benefited the top 1 percent of Americans, and demonstrated how the American Rescue Plan focused on the working people, and how it created a great deal of jobs.

  He reported that “our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs just last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of the United States of America. The economy grew at a rate of 5.7 last year, the strongest growth rate in nearly 40 years, the first step in bringing fundamental change to our economy that hasn’t worked for the working people of this nation for too long.”

  He suppressed the theory of “Trickle-Down Economics” and explained how the theory only widened the wage gap. 

  He elaborated on his plan as President of the United States. He stated, “[I] ran for office with a new economic vision for America. Invest in America. Educate Americans. Grow the workforce. Build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down.” 

  He also explained how the idea that the United States of America is the “best country in the world” is not true, but in fact, America is ranked 13th in the world for infrastructure. 

  Due to this, he believes that it is vital to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He truly desires to modify America for the better. Biden wants to modernize roads, ports, waterways, and airports. While remaining ambitious, he did admit the issues with climate change that must also be addressed. 

  Biden described that, “We’ll build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, begin to replace the poisonous lead pipes, so every child — every American — has clean water to drink at home and at school. We’re going to provide affordable high-speed internet for every American — rural, urban, suburban and tribal communities…And tonight, I’m announcing that this year we will start fixing over 65,000 miles of highway and 1,500 bridges in disrepair.”

  Furthermore, he explained how the process of modernizing America will be done with American products and American workers. He declared that he wants ‘“the rebirth of pride that comes from stamping products ‘Made in America.’” 

  Once again, he explained the effect of the pandemic on the economy. He spoke on the topic of inflation. He wants to fight inflation by lowering costs and not the wages of workers. 

  He also had a guest, Joshua, who is a Type 1 diabetic. He explained how 200,000 other young people with Type 1 Diabetes have to suffer with purchasing overpriced insulin. He stated that he wants to, “cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month so everyone can afford it.” 

  Furthermore, he explained that, “the American Rescue Plan is helping millions of families on Affordable Care Act plans to save them $2,400 a year on their health care premiums. Let’s close the coverage gap and make these savings permanent.”

  The other two main movements of the American Rescue Plan include, “cut[ting] energy costs for families an average of $500 a year by combating climate change…The third thing we can do to change the standard of living for hard-working folks is cut the cost of child care. Cut the cost of child care. Folks, if you live in a major city in America, you pay up to $14,000 a year for child care per child.”

  Furthermore, Biden stated, “The only president ever [Biden] to cut the deficit by more than $1 trillion in a single year. Lowering your costs also meant demanding more competition.”

  He ended his speech with the idea of unity. He stated, “We fought for freedom, expanded liberty, debated totalitarianism and terror. We built the strongest, freest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known. Now is the hour. Our moment of responsibility.” 

  He wants to save our country, make it better, and protect liberty and freedom. Further he reassured the American people that he is optimistic about the future of America, and the possibilities.