Day 98: Presidential Address to Congress
President Joe Biden summed up his first 100 days, expounding on what he means by “build back better” and delivering good news about the economy, in his first address to Congress. A longtime Senator for Delaware (1973-2009), he said being in chambers again was like “home.”
Major Gen. William Walker, the first Black House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms introduced him.
“Madame Speaker, Madame Vice President,” Biden opened, nodding to the historic diversity of his cabinet. “No president has ever said those words from this podium, and it’s about time.”
He said the Administration “inherited a nation in crisis. The worst pandemic in a century. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation: America is on the move again.”
The sparsely attended (in-person, at least) joint session erupted in applause when he reported that by the end of this week, over 220 million Covid vaccines will have been given. Ninety percent of Americans live within 5 miles of a vaccination site, everyone over the age of 16 is eligible to receive one and some 85 percent of American households are receiving rescue checks. “For many people, it’s making all the difference in the world,” he said.
Rental assistance, small business loans and food and nutrition assistance is also being delivered via the American Rescue Plan, “and hunger is down sharply already.”
“An additional 800,000 Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act because I established a special sign up period to do that,” he said, adding, “We’re making one of the largest one-time investments ever in improving health care for veterans.”
The economy is recovering, too, Biden said. “The International Monetary Fund is now estimating our economy will grow at a rate of more than 6% this year. That will be the fastest pace of economic growth in this country in nearly four decades.” He said more than 1.3 million new jobs were added — more than any other first 100 days on record.
Applause erupted again when Biden reported, “we are on track to cut child poverty in America in half this year.” He introduced an American Families Plan that includes free education through the first two-years of college. (“Jill is a community college professor who teaches today as First Lady,” he noted.)
Biden went on to speak about the American Jobs Plan, “the largest jobs plan since World War II,” and how the intersection of public investments, infrastructure and innovation have “transformed” the nation and can be used to address climate change and the economic competition with China.
“Today, up to 10 million homes and more than 400,000 schools and child care centers have pipes with lead in them, including for drinking water,” he said. “a clear and present danger to our children’s health. The American Jobs Plan creates jobs replacing 100% of the nation’s lead pipes and service lines so every American, so every child – can turn on the faucet and be certain to drink clean water.
“It creates jobs connecting every American with high-speed internet, including 35% of rural Americans who still don’t have it… For too long, we have failed to use the most important word when it comes to meeting the climate crisis, ‘jobs.’ Jobs. There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”
Biden referenced again that some 2 million women dropped out of the workforce during the pandemic, “too often because they couldn’t get the care they need for their family, their children.” His plans include affordable child care, child tax credits, improved wages and benefits for caregivers for the aging and disabled, universal $15 minimum wage, the Paycheck Fairness Act for universal pay equity and infrastructure jobs that do not require a college degree.
The goal is to build the economy from “the bottom up and middle-out.”
“Wall Street didn’t build this country. The middle class built this country. And unions build the middle class,” he said.
So where does all this magic money come from, Moneybagg Joe?
“Let’s start with what I will not do,” Biden said. “I will not impose any tax increases on people making less than $400,000 a year. It’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to pay their fair share. In fact, the pay gap between CEOs and their workers is now among the largest in history…
“20 million Americans lost their jobs in the pandemic – working- and middle-class Americans. At the same time, the roughly 650 Billionaires in America saw their net worth increase by more than $1 Trillion.”
As for foreign policy, Biden remains steadfast in not escalating tensions with China or Russia, pulling troops out of Afghanistan and working with allies on climate change and nuclear threats.
As for the “war” at home, he urged Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and pass the Equality Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act. He thanked the Senate for passing the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act 94-1 to protect Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and said, “We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America. Now is our opportunity to make real progress.”
“To all the transgender Americans watching at home — especially the young people who are so brave — I want you to know that your president has your back,” he added.
“The question of whether our democracy will long endure is both ancient and urgent” he closed. “…Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us — created equal in the image of G-d — have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility?
“It’s time we remembered that ‘We the People’ are the government. You and I. Not some force in a distant capital. Not some powerful force we have no control over. It’s us.”
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) delivered the Republican Response, agreeing that America is “starving” and saying that the Biden offered “good words,” but his Administration has “pushed us apart” with bipartisan legislation.