President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union remarks, as prepared for delivery, provided by the White House.
time.com
Transcript:
Good evening.
Mr. Speaker. Madam Vice President. Members of Congress. My Fellow Americans.
In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation.
He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.”
Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe.
President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.
Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.
Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation.
Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union.
And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either.
Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today.
What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.
Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond.
If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not.
But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.
In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way.
But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world.
It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.
It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.
America is a founding member of NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace.
Today, we’ve made NATO stronger than ever.
We welcomed Finland to the Alliance last year, and just this morning, Sweden officially joined NATO, and their Prime Minister is here tonight.
Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known.
I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill.
History is watching.
If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk.
Europe at risk. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm.
My message to President Putin is simple.
We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.
History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th.
Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy.
Many of you were here on that darkest of days.
We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots.
They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people.
January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.
But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.
But we must be honest the threat remains and democracy must be defended.
My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th.
I will not do that.
This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies.
And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.
As I’ve done ever since being elected to office, I ask you all, without regard to party, to join together and defend our democracy!
Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic.
Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear—political violence has absolutely no place in America!
History is watching.
And history is watching another assault on freedom.
Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama. 14 months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of IVF.
She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning
Roe v. Wade.
She was told her dream would have to wait.
What her family has gone through should never have happened. And unless Congress acts, it could happen again.
So tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers!
To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide!
Like most Americans, I believe
Roe v. Wade got it right. And I thank Vice President Harris for being an incredible leader, defending reproductive freedom and so much more.
But my predecessor came to office determined to see
Roe v. Wade overturned.
He’s the reason it was overturned. In fact, he brags about it.
Look at the chaos that has resulted.
Joining us tonight is Kate Cox, a wife and mother from Dallas.
When she became pregnant again, the fetus had a fatal condition.
Her doctors told Kate that her own life and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she didn’t act.
Because Texas law banned abortion, Kate and her husband had to leave the state to get the care she needed.
What her family has gone through should never have happened as well. But it is happening to so many others.
There are state laws banning the right to choose, criminalizing doctors, and forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states as well to get the care they need.
Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom.
My God, what freedoms will you take away next?
In its decision to overturn
Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, “Women are not without electoral or political power.”
No kidding.
Clearly, those bragging about overturning
Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.
They found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again, in 2024.
If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore
Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again!
America cannot go back. I am here tonight to show the way forward. Because I know how far we’ve come.
Four years ago next week, before I came to office, our country was hit by the worst pandemic and the worst economic crisis in a century.
Remember the fear. Record job losses. Remember the spike in crime. And the murder rate.
A raging virus that would take more than 1 million American lives and leave millions of loved ones behind.
A mental health crisis of isolation and loneliness.
A president, my predecessor, who failed the most basic duty. Any President owes the American people the duty to care.
That is unforgivable.
I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history.
And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told.
So let’s tell that story here and now.
America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all of America, in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind!
The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer.
Turning setback into comeback.
That’s America!
I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world!
15 million new jobs in just three years—that’s a record!
Unemployment at 50-year lows.
A record 16 million Americans are starting small businesses and each one is an act of hope.
With historic job growth and small business growth for Black, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans.
800,000 new manufacturing jobs in America and counting.
More people have health insurance today than ever before.
The racial wealth gap is the smallest it’s been in 20 years.
Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down!
Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3%—the lowest in the world!
And trending lower.
And now instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs—right here in America where they belong!
And the American people are beginning to feel it.
Consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring.
Buy American has been the law of the land since the 1930s.
Past administrations including my predecessor failed to Buy American.
Not any more.
On my watch, federal projects like helping to build American roads bridges and highways will be made with American products built by American workers creating good-paying American jobs!
Thanks to my Chips and Science Act the United States is investing more in research and development than ever before.
During the pandemic a shortage of semiconductor chips drove up prices for everything from cell phones to automobiles.
Well instead of having to import semiconductor chips, which America invented I might add, private companies are now investing billions of dollars to build new chip factories here in America!
Creating tens of thousands of jobs many of them paying over $100,000 a year and don’t require a college degree.
In fact my policies have attracted $650 Billion of private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America!
Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities—modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems.
Removing poisonous lead pipes so every child can drink clean water without risk of getting brain damage.
Providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where you live.
Urban, suburban, and rural communities—in red states and blue.
Record investments in tribal communities.
Because of my investments, family farms are better be able to stay in the family and children and grandchildren won’t have to leave home to make a living.
It’s transformative.
A great comeback story is Belvidere, Illinois. Home to an auto plant for nearly 60 years.
Before I came to office the plant was on its way to shutting down.
Thousands of workers feared for their livelihoods. Hope was fading.
Then I was elected to office and we raised Belvidere repeatedly with the auto company knowing unions make all the difference.
The UAW worked like hell to keep the plant open and get those jobs back. And together, we succeeded!
Instead of an auto factory shutting down an auto factory is re-opening and a new state-of-the art battery factory is being built to power those cars.
Instead of a town being left behind it’s a community moving forward again!
Because instead of watching auto jobs of the future go overseas 4,000 union workers with higher wages will be building that future, in Belvidere, here in America!
Here tonight is UAW President, Shawn Fain, a great friend, and a great labor leader.
And Dawn Simms, a third generation UAW worker in Belvidere.
Shawn, I was proud to be the first President in American history to walk a picket line.
And today Dawn has a job in her hometown providing stability for her family and pride and dignity.
Showing once again, Wall Street didn’t build this country!
The middle class built this country! And unions built the middle class!
When Americans get knocked down, we get back up!
We keep going!
That’s America! That’s you, the American people!
It’s because of you America is coming back!
It’s because of you, our future is brighter!
And it’s because of you that tonight we can proudly say the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger!
Tonight I want to talk about the future of possibilities that we can build together.
A future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks.
I grew up in a home where not a lot trickled down on my Dad’s kitchen table.
That’s why I’m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well the poor have a way up and the wealthy still does well.
We all do well.
And there’s more to do to make sure you’re feeling the benefits of all we’re doing.
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else.
It’s wrong and I’m ending it.
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