President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Thursday, almost half an hour late than scheduled, the last he will deliver in his current term.

TAXES AND FEES

President Joe Biden proposed raising taxes on the country’s richest people, arguing that the money could be used to continue reducing the federal deficit and finance federal initiatives, news.ro reported.

The president criticized Republicans, saying that the policies of the last administration benefited the wealthiest 1% of citizens. He proposes raising taxes on billionaires. “A fair tax code is how we invest and make this country great. Health care, education, defense and more,” Biden said.

Biden says billionaires are taxed “much less” than most Americans. “No billionaire should pay a lower federal tax rate than a teacher, health care professional or nurse,” he said to cheers from the crowd.

H2: DRUGS AND ABORTION

President Joe Biden says he will lower the cost of prescription drugs for Americans through a bill he proposed and signed into law.

“Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world,” Biden said. “It’s wrong and I’m going to put an end to it. With a law that I proposed and signed, and that none of you Republican friends voted for. We finally defeated Big Pharma,” says Biden.

President Joe Biden says Roe v. Wade was right about reproductive freedom and vowed to “return abortion rights to the law of the land.” He again attacks former President Donald Trump without naming him, blaming him for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. His likely opponent in 2024 is “flaunting it,” he said. Those who brag about repealing abortion protections “have no idea about the power of women,” Biden says, noting that the issue has mobilized voters in the 2022 midterm elections.

Biden noted that abortion will also be an important issue on the ballot this year.

H2: ECONOMY

Biden’s voice rises as he speaks, Democrats in the room respond with rapturous applause, and many rise to their feet. The speech takes on intense electoral accents.

Biden presents his balance sheet, arguing that the economy is stronger now than when he took office in 2021. Never,” he says. “Getting America back is building the future of American opportunity, building the economy from the middle up and from the bottom up,” Biden said, honoring what he wrote in excerpts from a speech the White House shared with the press.

In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said that the American economy is “the envy of the whole world.”

H2: STATE OF DEMOCRACY

RENEWAL. In his speech, President Biden also asked lawmakers to “come together” and protect American democracy.

“Respect free and fair elections. Restore trust in our institutions,” he said. “And to be clear, political violence has no place in America.” Continuing his focus on democracy, Biden referred to the riot at the Capitol on January 6. “Many of you have been here in your darkest days,” he says. “We all saw with our own eyes that these rebels were not patriots. They came to stop the peaceful transfer of power. But they did not succeed. America resisted…and democracy won,” he says.

H2: SITUATION IN UKRAINE

The president emphasized again that Ukraine is asking for military aid and weapons to fight Russia, but not American personnel. “They are not asking for American soldiers. In fact, there are no American soldiers fighting in Ukraine. And I’m determined to stay that way,” Biden said, alluding to the controversial statements. French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently announced the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine in the future.

“My message to Putin is simple: we will not leave, we will not leave, we will not stay away. History is looking at us,” Biden said before launching into an indirect attack on Donald Trump, recalling the January 6, 2021 uprising at the Capitol and emphasizing that American democracy had won.

“Abroad, Russian Putin is on the move, invading Ukraine and wreaking havoc in Europe and beyond.

If anyone in this room thinks that Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you that he will not.

Ukraine can stop Putin only if we support Ukraine and give it the weapons it needs to defend itself. This is all that Ukraine is asking for. They are not asking for American soldiers,” Biden said

Not so long ago, Republican President Ronald Reagan thundered: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Now my predecessor, a former Republican president, is telling Putin, “Do whatever you want.”

The former US president said this while bowing to the Russian leader. This is scandalous. It is dangerous. This is unacceptable, Biden added

Democrats rose to their feet to applaud Biden’s comment about Putin. No Republicans, with the exception of moderate Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, appear to have joined them. However, a few more Republicans supported the Democrats when Biden said that America should stand by Ukraine, the BBC writes.

Putin is on the march, but Ukraine can protect itself with additional help, the president said, noting that he received thunderous applause again.

H2: ATTACK ON TRUMP FOR COMMENTS ABOUT NATO

RENEWAL. Just minutes after he began his speech, President Biden mocked Donald Trump without ever mentioning him by name, slamming him for recent comments in which he said he would tell Russia to “do whatever it wants.” , if NATO does it. not to further one’s own defense.

“The former president actually said that while bowing to the Russian leader,” Biden said. “This is dangerous and unacceptable,” he said.

Biden referred to Trump as “my predecessor, the former Republican president,” but never called him by name.

He also pledged continued commitment to NATO and European security, saying that if the US “withdraws” from Ukraine, Europe will be at risk.

“We will not leave,” he promised to loud applause from congressmen in the hall.

H2: MESSAGE FOR LITTLE ONES

President Biden began his State of the Union address with a joke: “If I was smart, I’d go home right now.”

“I’ve come to wake up Congress!” added President Joe Biden, who began his speech by going straight to Ukraine and recalling the moment Ronald Reagan told the last Soviet leader, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!”

He recalled a historic moment, the State of the Union, which occurred in January 1941 when Roosevelt addressed the nation nearly a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Freedom and democracy are under attack at home and abroad,” Biden said, drawing a parallel with today.

He said the purpose of the State of the Nation address is to “wake up Congress and warn the American people” that democracy is at stake.

“If anyone in this hall thinks that Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you that he will not,” he warned.

The speech gives Biden an opportunity to gain momentum in his bid for the presidency, the FT writes, despite low approval ratings, still-high inflation, immigration and questions about his physical and mental fitness to serve another four years in office.

But the president is also presiding over a booming economy and a strong labor market while enforcing a series of laws that have boosted domestic manufacturing. Biden will promote the “return of America”, which, in his opinion, has not been talked about enough in the country.

“America’s comeback is about creating American opportunity, building a strong middle-class economy, investing in all of America — in all Americans — to make sure that everyone has a fair chance, and we leave no one behind,” Biden added.

Several hundred protesters tried to block Biden’s passage from the White House to Congress. About 200 pro-Gaza protesters took to Pennsylvania Avenue. Protesters carried a huge Palestinian flag and a banner that read: “Biden’s legacy is genocide.”