President Joe Biden will argue he has a job to finish in revitalizing the U.S. economy in his second State of the Union address Tuesday night, according to excerpts provided by the White House.
Describing his economic plan, Biden will say he is focused on investing in people and places “that have been forgotten,” per the excerpts from the speech.
Biden is also expected to brag about jobs. “As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs — more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years,” Biden is expected to say.
That excerpt prompted Glenn Kessler, chief fact checker for The Washington Post, to warn about Biden using a misleading claim about job growth based on missing context.
Based on the SOTU excerpts, Biden will use the misleading claim we identified earlier today–> "As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs – more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years." https://t.co/SWrQC4TF9h
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) February 7, 2023
In addition, Biden is expected to say COVID-19 “no longer controls our lives.” This comes ahead of the Biden administration planning to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire in May.
The events of January 6, 2021, also appear to be part of the speech. “And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War,” Biden will say, according to the excerpts. “Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”
Here are the excerpts from Joe Biden's speech tonight that includes once again saying that January 6 was the greatest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. pic.twitter.com/KcldJNnW6W
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 7, 2023
Further, Biden will speak to Republicans, as they now control the House and pose roadblocks to various facets of the Democratic Party’s agenda.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” Biden is expected to say.
“The people sent us a clear message,” Biden will add, per the excerpts. “Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that’s always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America: the middle class, to unite the country. We’ve been sent here to finish the job!”
This will be Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress in which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who won the gavel last month, will be one of the people behind Biden as he speaks, along with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden’s speech is set for 9 p.m. ET. Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as President Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, will deliver the formal GOP rebuttal to Biden’s address on Tuesday. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) will deliver the Spanish-language GOP response.
