Coming up next for his State of the Union addressUS President Joe Biden embarked on a trip to the Midwestern state of Wisconsin on Thursday to announce what he sees as the country’s economic gains under his rule.
Meanwhile, opposition Republicans were calling for an end to what they call runaway government spending that Biden has sanctioned during his two years in the White House.
The president visited a North American Laborers International Union training center in the town of DeForest to talk about manufacturing jobs.
Wisconsin is a perennial political battleground in presidential elections and will almost certainly be a focal point again in 2024, both for Biden, who is closing in on a formal re-election bid in the coming months, and his eventual opponent. republican, either former President Donald Trump or someone else.
Under Biden, the US, with the world’s largest economy, has added hundreds of thousands of new jobs each month as it recovers from the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which started in 2020.
The country’s unemployment rate – at 3.4% – is the lowest in 53 years. But both Republicans and Democrats say inflation, though it has eased in recent months, is still too high, at 6.5% in the December annual count.
The debt ceiling
In addition, congressional Republicans and Biden are arguing over raising the government’s debt ceiling to $31.4 trillion, which is the amount it can borrow to pay its financial obligations. Republicans want drastic cuts in public spending – to date, unspecified – in exchange for raising the cap for June.
that’s when the government is expected to run out of money in tax revenue to pay all your bills. Biden wants an unconditional debt limit increase, but is willing to separately discuss future government spending.
Biden and the new Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, have already started talking about raising the debt ceiling, but appear far from reaching an agreement in what will likely be protracted discussions.
After his visit to Wisconsin, Biden would head Thursday to another political battleground, the southern state of Florida, where Trump spends the winter months. In Tampa, Biden will accuse Republican lawmakers of wanting to cut pension and health care benefits for older Americans, a major issue in Florida, where millions of retirees have settled.
Biden adopted an optimistic and determined tone on Tuesday in his second State of the Union address, praising his legislative and political achievements, reiterating his stances on impeaching China and supporting Ukraine, and proclaiming that “though bruised, our democracy remains intact.”
“Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the state of the nation is strong,” Biden said.
“I’m not new to this place. I am here tonight, and I have served as long as any of you have served; I have never been more optimistic about the future of the United States,” she said. “We just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is nothing, nothing beyond our ability if we do it together.”
benefits of spending
In the speech, he tried to explain how the hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on infrastructure, climate change control and computer chip manufacturing that he supported in the past two years will benefit Americans for years to come.
A handful of Republican lawmakers heckled Biden during the speech, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called him a “liar” when he suggested that at least some Republicans want to cut funding for pension and health insurance plans.
Biden seemed to enjoy the moment and urged the hundreds of lawmakers – both senators and congressmen – present in the House of Representatives to stand up to show their support for not cutting funding for Social Security and Medicare programs.
McCarthy tweeted after the speech: “Republicans offer a vision of a future based on freedom, not scaremongering.”
His deputy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, said on Twitter that Biden was “living in an alternate universe. Families can’t afford gas or food, and feel unsafe in their communities.”
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