President Biden's 2023 State of the Union address

President Biden criticized the fiscal management of former President Donald Trump’s administration — saying that “nearly 25% of the entire national debt, a debt that took 200 years to accumulate, was added by just one administration alone – the last one.” 

Facts First: Biden’s claim is correct. The national debt, now more than $31 trillion, increased by just under $8 trillion during Trump’s four years in office, in part because of Trump’s major tax cuts. It’s important to note, though, that some of the increase in the debt during the Trump era was because of the trillions in emergency Covid-19 pandemic relief spending that passed with bipartisan support. The national debt spiked in the first half of 2020 after increasing gradually during Trump’s first three years in office, and because of spending required by safety-net programs that were created by previous presidents. A significant amount of spending under any president is the result of decisions made by their predecessors.  

Charles Blahous, a researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University who authored the 2021 paper “Why We Have Federal Deficits,” wrote that the impact of recent legislation on the long-term structural fiscal imbalance is dwarfed by the creation of Medicare and Medicaid and increases to Social Security, all of which occurred between 1965 and 1972.   

"Despite all the political rhetoric expended today to cast blame for skyrocketing federal deficits on either the Joseph R. Biden Jr. administration or the Donald J. Trump administration, on either congressional Democrats or congressional Republicans, the largest drivers of the structural federal fiscal imbalance were enacted roughly a half-century ago," Blahous wrote.  

President Joe Biden emphasized the United States' support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion as the war approaches its one-year anniversary.

President Joe Biden is talking about the war in Ukraine during his State of the Union address — a cause the US has pledged more than $29 billion dollars since it began, according to the Pentagon.

Biden announced the latest package worth more than $2.17 billion Friday that includes longer-range missiles for the first time.

Last month, the US committed to provide Ukraine with 31 advanced M-1 Abrams tanks, a decision made in concert with European countries providing German-made Leopard 2 tanks. It was a reversal of a red line previously held by the US and other Western countries, like Germany. The tanks are powerful new tools, allowing Ukraine to go on the offensive and retake territory seized by Russia.

At the time of the announcement, Biden insisted the tanks should not be viewed by Moscow as an “offensive threat.” However, last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West was threatening Moscow “again” with German-made Leopard fighter tanks.

One thing that still remains off the table for the US is fighter jets. Biden previously answered "no," he would send jets to Ukraine. US and allied officials say jets would be impractical, both because they require considerable training and because Russia has extensive anti-aircraft systems that could easily shoot them down.

All this comes as Kyiv has ramped up pressure on allies to send more aid and weapons — especially fighter jets — ahead of a possible Russian offensive in the spring. Even now, heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, with Russian attacks often targeting civilian targets.

CNN has reported that US and Western officials are urging Ukraine to shift its focus from the brutal, months-long fight in the eastern city of Bakhmut and prioritize instead a potential offensive in the south, using a different style of fighting that takes advantage of the billions of dollars in new military hardware recently committed by Western allies, 

One year of war: Biden is considering making a trip to Europe around the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine next month, two senior administration officials tell CNN. One of the officials said that one stop under consideration is Poland, a key NATO ally currently housing thousands of American troops that also serves as a hub for Western weapons transfers to Ukraine. US service members are also training Ukrainian troops there.

It is highly unlikely that Biden would travel to Ukraine as part of this trip, however, one of the officials said, given the ongoing security concerns.

As he walked into the chamber for the State of the Union address, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told embattled GOP Rep. George Santos: “You don’t belong here,” according to a member who witnessed the tense exchange.

The moment happened as members of Congress began entering the chamber for President Joe Biden's address.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday discussions of policing differ along racial lines in America, admitting he's never had to have "the talk" – how to conduct oneself around police – that many Black and brown families have to have with their children.

"If a police officer pulls you over, turn on your interior lights. Don’t reach for your license. Keep your hands on the steering wheel. Imagine having to worry like that every single time your kid got in a car," he said.

The mother of Tyre Nichols, the unarmed Black man killed by police in Memphis, was in attendance at the State of the Union address and told the president how she continues to find the courage to carry on and speak out, Biden said.

The president added, "Equal protection under the law is a covenant we have with each other in America. We know police officers put their lives on the line every single night and day and we know we asked them in many cases to do too much, counselors, social workers, cycle ecologists responding to mental health crises and so much more, in one sense we ask too much of them."

"I know most cops and their families are good, decent, honorable people, the vast majority," he said.

President Biden just recognized the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, who are among the first lady’s guests at the State of the Union address. They stood up during the speech and received a standing ovation.

Nichols’ death days after being beaten by police in Memphis last month has renewed calls for police reform and reignited a national conversation on justice in policing. Biden hosted members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House last week to discuss police reform, which has stalled in Congress multiple times and faces an uncertain path forward.

Nichols' parents have been among those calling for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to be passed to change policing on a federal level. But, Biden has a long way to go in term of police reform legislation, especially now with a divided Congress.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing, originally introduced in 2020 and again in 2021, would set up a national registry of police misconduct to stop officers from evading consequences for their actions by moving to another jurisdiction.

The bill twice cleared the House under Democratic control – in 2020 and 2021 – largely along party lines. But it never went anywhere in the Senate, even after Democrats won control in 2021, in part, because of disagreements about qualified immunity, which protects police officers from being sued in civil court.

What the president can do: After the bill failed, Biden signed a more limited executive order to overhaul policing on the second anniversary of Floyd’s death. It took several actions that can be applied to federal officers, including efforts to ban chokeholds, expand the use of body-worn cameras and restrict no-knock warrants, among other things.

But the president cannot mandate that local law enforcement adopt the measures in his order; the executive action lays out levers the federal government can use, such as federal grants and technical assistance, to incentivize local law enforcement to get on board.

Now, the road for police reform has only become more challenging in the new Congress now that House Republicans, who have placed their priorities elsewhere, are in the majority.

Watch:

We're tracking the approximate length of President Joe Biden's remarks. Here's how it compares to the longest and shortest State of the Union addresses since 1964. So far he's doubled President Richard Nixon's 1972 address, which is the shortest in recent history.

President Joe Biden zeroed in on the economy and infrastructure in the first 25 minutes.

Here's how many minutes Biden spent talking about different topics during the first part of his State of the Union speech:

President Joe Biden said that “over the last two years, a record 10 million Americans applied to start new businesses.”  

Facts First: This is true. There were about 5.4 million business applications in 2021, the highest number since 2005 (the first year for which the federal government released this data for a full year), and about 5.1 million business applications in 2022. Not every application turns into a real business, but the number of “high-propensity” business applications — those deemed to have a high likelihood of turning into a business with a payroll — also hit a record in 2021 and saw its second-highest total in 2022.  

Former President Donald Trump’s last full year in office, 2020, also set a then-record for total and high-propensity applications. There are various reasons for the pandemic-era boom in entrepreneurship, which began after millions of Americans lost their jobs in early 2020. Among them: some newly unemployed workers seized the moment to start their own enterprises; Americans had extra money from stimulus bills signed by Trump and Biden; interest rates were particularly low until a series of rate hikes that began in the spring of 2022.