Biden urges GOP lawmakers to ‘finish the job’ and takes a few swipes at them too

President Joe Biden used Tuesday night’s State of the Union to urge a newly divided Congress to “finish the job” to help the nation through a series of historic trials.

But his appeal for bipartisanship was also twinned with an implicit contrast to incendiary elements of the Republican Party in the audience before him. At times, Biden seemed to take delight in ribbing lawmakers on the other side of the aisle — wearing a Cheshire cat grin when he did so.

Beginning his third year in office and with a likely re-election bid on the horizon, Biden made a pitch for the parties to unite on Covid funding, health care prices, junk fees and police reform. He received applause on occasion but also jeers from some of the newly emboldened Republicans, who accused him at times of lying about their desire to cut entitlement programs. 

It was a speech that underscored the stark dividing lines that have come to define this presidency, in which pleas for partisan differences to be set aside often clash against the realities of modern politics.

“That’s always been my vision for our country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class, to unite the country,” Biden said. “We’ve been sent here to finish the job.”

As he spoke, a symbol of the new fault lines in Washington appeared just over Biden’s left shoulder. He delivered last year’s State of the Union, and 2021’s address to Congress, with Nancy Pelosi seated behind him in her role as House speaker. On Tuesday, Republican Kevin McCarthy was in that perch, with his party having vowed to investigate Biden and his family and block much of his agenda.

Despite the looming gridlock, Biden struck an optimistic tone and pointed to his robust slate of accomplishments from his first two years in office. He cited the nation’s “progress and resilience” on its path or recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurrection, declaring that while the nation “was bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”

“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience,” Biden said. “We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.”

He repeatedly urged the GOP lawmakers to help him “finish the job” – he used the phrase 12 times in total – in passing a series of bills popular with the American people.

“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” Biden said.

Even before speaking, Biden nodded across the aisle, singling out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and needling McCarthy. “I don't want to ruin your reputation but I look forward to working with you,” he said to the speaker.

Biden painted himself as the adult in the room, a no-drama president who tried to reach across the aisle and restored a sense of normalcy to a Washington left reeling from four tumultuous years of Donald Trump. He made a renewed push on pieces of legislation — including an assault weapons ban, police reform and protections for abortion rights — that polling suggestions are broadly popular with the American people, including the independent and swing voters who usually decide elections.

And while those are items Republicans are likely to oppose in the months ahead, aides felt confident in the approach. It was, they noted, a “unity agenda” similar to the approach that Biden took during his 2020 campaign, where he tried to avoid the daily political firestorms engulfing Trump, pledged to make politics less omnipresent in everyday life, all while allowing his Republican opponent to self-immolate.

The updated version of that strategy — until the Republicans pick their 2024 standard bearer — is predicated on the ascendance of newly prominent faces in the Republican party, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Another headline-grabbing Republican, Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who faces a House Ethics probe and has been accused of lying about his entire resume, was seen milling about near the aisle.

A year ago, Taylor Greene and Boebert heckled Biden during his speech, and photographs of their angry shouting went viral. Ahead of the speech, McCarthy urged his caucus to avoid repeating such a spectacle. But after Biden suggested that some Republicans wanted to gut Social Security and Medicare, GOP lawmakers erupted in protest. Taylor Greene was spotted standing and shouting at the president again. Later, other Republicans interrupted Biden to shout about the southern border.

Biden has not yet declared his candidacy for re-election, but the State of the Union doubled as a soft launch for it. McCarthy also looms as a political foil. Though some of his criticisms of the GOP were implicit, Biden made direct calls in his speech for partisan politics to be set aside for two important priorities: lifting the federal debt ceiling and continuing to fund Ukraine in its defense against Russia. The new Speaker has already delivered his objections on both, setting up standoffs on issues that Biden has declared essential to the future of democracy at home and abroad.

Biden spoke quickly and forcefully, though stumbling on occasion, as he delivered the 73-minute speech. He touted the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill and saluted the Republicans who supported it. For those in the GOP who didn’t, he zinged: “We’ll still fund your projects. And I’ll see you at the ground-breaking.”

There are challenges on the horizon for Biden, including the war in Europe and a special counsel appointed to investigate his handling of classified documents. And Republicans have spent recent days savaging the Biden administration’s response to the Chinese spy balloon that floated in U.S. airspace and gearing up for a year of partisan investigations.

Biden talked tough on China but made only a passing mention of the spy balloon that has dominated the national political discourse for a week, declaring, “As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.”

Any State of the Union is of the moment, reflecting a nation’s internal strife. A year ago, in the wake of a surge of violent crime, Biden emphatically declared, “We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them.”

But on Tuesday, in the midst of a homeless crisis and the killing of a Black man at the hands of Memphis police, Biden’s tone shifted, calling for “more resources to reduce violent crime and gun crime; more community intervention programs; more investments in housing, education, and job training.”

Biden vowed to veto any efforts to raise the price of prescription drugs, which his Inflation Reduction Act lowered for Medicare beneficiaries. He presented evidence of progress that's been made in the last year on combating the opioid epidemic, lowering inflation, prioritizing mental health, aiding veterans and reviving his cancer "moonshot." He pointed to the overwhelming bipartisan support last year for the PACT Act, which directs more healthcare resources to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in combat.

He also pledged to utilize new technology to better track fentanyl smuggling at the southern border, singling out a New Hampshire father in the audience who lost his high school daughter to drug addiction. But that brought another uproar from Republicans, including a shout at Biden of “it’s your fault” about the fentanyl death.

The State of the Union has been home to many lines intertwined with the identity of their speakers: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s defense of “four freedoms” ahead of World War II, Bill Clinton declaring “the era of big government is over” and George W. Bush condemning “the axis of evil” after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It is unclear if Biden will reach those rhetorical heights, as hovering over the address will be something he won’t discuss at all: his possible 2024 re-election bid.

The 80-year-old president has said he intends to stand for another term, though his official decision may still be more than a month away. He’ll hit the road this week for a post-speech barnstorming tour — with stops in Wisconsin and Florida — and will consider his political future by making more rounds of calls to his longtime allies, talking through themes and timing, pushed by a belief that he remains the one Democrat who could defeat Trump.

Most close to Biden believe that, soon enough, an official campaign will begin in earnest.

Eli Stokols contributed to this report.