WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden sought to reassure the American people during his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday that the nation is “turning peril into possibility” after the coronavirus wrought widespread devastation.
Speaking on the eve of his 100th day in office, Biden said “America is on the move again” after it suffered “the worst pandemic in a century,” which caused the deaths of well over half-a-million people and brought one of the worst economic downturns in history.
The nation is now “turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength,” Biden said during his primetime address.
“Tonight I come to talk about crisis and opportunity, about rebuilding a nation, revitalizing our democracy, and winning the future for America," he told an unusually sparse congressional chamber that saw attendance limited by virus restrictions.
“We all know life can knock us down, but in America, we never ever, ever stay down. Americans always get up. Today, that’s what we’re doing. America is rising anew, choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, and light over darkness,” he said. “America is ready for a takeoff.”
The push towards a return to normalcy is being fueled to a large extent by the US vaccination drive, which is set to have at least one shot in 240 million people's arms by Thursday.
That means more than half of all Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and Biden continued to encourage those who have yet to get vaccinated to do so, drawing bipartisan applause in the House chamber.
“There’s still more work to do to beat this virus. We can’t let our guard down. But tonight I can say because of you, the American people, our progress these past 100 days against one of the worst pandemics in history has been one of the greatest logistical achievements this country has ever seen,” he said.
Biden warned that America’s competitors are rapidly seeking to close the gap on the US’s global lead, pointing in particular to Chinese President Xi Jinping while calling for Democrats and Republicans to line up behind his sweeping plans to rebuild the country.
Xi, Biden said, “is deadly earnest about becoming the most significant, consequential nation in the world.”
“We can’t be so busy competing with each other that we forget the competition is with the rest of the world to win the 21st Century,” he said. “To win that competition for the future, we also need to make a once-in-a-generation investment in our families – in our children.”
Xi and other “autocrats,” Biden said, are betting that “democracy can’t compete in the 21st century with autocracies. It takes too long to get consensus.”
Part and parcel to any US victory in that competition is what Biden is hailing as a “once in a generation investment in our families and our children,” a reference to his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.”
The proposal seeks to establish a wide set of programs for Americans, including two years of free community college and universal free preschool for three and four-year-olds.
“When this nation made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world,” he said. “But the world is catching up. They are not waiting.”
The plan combines $1 trillion in spending with $800 billion in tax cuts and credits for middle and lower-income families. It would also create revenue by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Americans from about 37% to nearly 40%.
The package is the third multi-trillion-dollar proposal proposed by the president following his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan and a sweeping $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill.
That bill, Biden said, has put the US on track to cut child poverty by half in 2021, and the US economy is now on track to add 1.3 million new jobs in his brief time in office, which Biden said is “more jobs in the first 100 days than any American president on record.”
Turning to what Biden said US intelligence agencies have determined to be the pre-eminent terror threat to the homeland, the president said he would not ignore “white supremacy’s terrorism.”
“Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us – created equal in the image of God – have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility?” Biden asked.
“Can our democracy deliver on the most pressing needs of our people? Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate and fears that have pulled us apart? America’s adversaries – the autocrats of the world – are betting we can’t,” he said. “They believe we’re too full of anger, division and rage. They look at the images of the mob that assaulted the Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy. But they’re wrong.”
Five people died during the Jan. 6 insurrection by former US President Donald Trump's supporters, including a police officer who died the day after. Two other officers who were present that day took their lives in the aftermath.
