America is on the move, Biden tells Congress
President Joe Biden yesterday delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress, aimed at making an impassioned plea for his sweeping plan to provide universal preschool, free community college and other benefits, while raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
While also intended to renew calls for an array of priorities – including immigration changes, gun control and police reform – Biden’s speech framed an uplifting message that sought to portray a country emerging from the depths of a global pandemic and still grappling with events that, in his view, tested American democracy as rarely before.
‘‘I took the oath of office – lifted my hand off our family Bible – and inherited a nation in crisis,’’ he said. ‘‘The worst pandemic in a century. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
‘‘Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,’’ he added. ‘‘Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setbacks into strength.’’
Biden delivered the remarks with a historic backdrop, as two women – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and VicePresident
Harris – sat within the camera’s frame for the first time during such an address. The two women greeted each other at the front of the chamber, grabbing hands and bumping elbows.
But in a historic marker of a different sort, only about 200 people were invited to a speech that is normally teeming with a crowd of 1600, many of them eager to applaud and others to register disapproval. Members were spread out, with many in the gallery above the floor, nearly everyone wearing masks.
‘‘While the setting tonight is familiar,’’ Biden said at the start of his speech, ‘‘this gathering is a little bit different.’’
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr was the only one representing the Supreme Court. Just two members of Biden’s Cabinet – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin – were in attendance, and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represented the military.
Jill Biden was in attendance but without the first lady’s box that typically includes guests to be mentioned by the president during the speech. – Washington Post