Here are Biden’s announcements and promises (respected?) in economic policy
In yesterday's State of the Union address, Biden spoke to a divided Congress, calling it to unity, and to a population concerned about the economy. Has the president fulfilled his promises?
In his first State of the Union address since the Republican Party took control of the House, US President Joe Biden called on the opposition to work with him to "finish the job" of reinvigorating the economy and of American democracy. But the Republicans, on the contrary, want to force him to change course, writes the New York Times . And on the other hand Biden himself, despite the invitation to collaborate, has not made concessions to his opponents: on the contrary, he has asked him to embrace his program, which provides for more taxes for wealthy citizens and more social aid for those in situations of vulnerability.
When Democrats held a majority in the House, the two parties actually worked together to pass some laws. “There is no reason,” the president said then, “why we can't work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well,” born out of the November 2022 midterm elections. time an agreement for the increase of the debt ceiling, in order to avoid the default.
– Read also: The United States has reached its debt ceiling: here's what it risks
IS BIDEN PREPARING THE TERRAIN FOR RE-ELECTION?
The State of the Union speech seemed to many observers to be a preview of the re-election campaign for the presidency, which Biden could formally announce in the spring. However, his age – he is 80 – is a cause for concern for the Democratic Party, which would prefer a different candidate also because Biden tends to make some confusing mistakes in his speeches: yesterday, for example, he defined Party senator Chuck Schumer Democrat, leader of the minority rather than the majority in the Senate. After a somewhat shaky start, however, the New York Times wrote that yesterday's speech was vigorous and animated by the exchange of attacks and jokes with the Republicans.
CONTENTS (FEW) AND SLOGAN (MANY) OF THE ADDRESS ON THE STATE OF THE UNION
In terms of content, however, the State of the Union speech did not indicate new policies: Biden repeated the call for unity between the parties (extremely difficult in practice) and addressed the Americans who feel left behind by the economic and social progress (“I'm on your side”) with some ideas with a populist flavor, such as reducing bank commissions. He criticized oil companies for making extraordinary profits, and big companies for taking advantage of consumers.
With a view to re-election, he tried to convince Americans that he had worked well to heal the nation after the coronavirus crisis and the assault on the Capitol. And he offered an optimistic view on the future, insisting in particular on the decline in inflation and on the growth of jobs.
Since his message is aimed at internal public opinion, he has practically not talked about foreign policy.
DID JOE BIDEN KEEP HIS PROMISES?
POLITICO has examined the promises made by Joe Biden, to assess whether they have been fulfilled or not.
On inflation, for example, he said that the commitment made is "in progress": from the peak of 9.1 percent reached last June, it has dropped to 6.5 but is still far from the 2 percent target .
On infrastructure, Biden has achieved a "success": about a year after the entry into force of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, all the US states plus Puerto Rico have presented their plans for the charging network for electric vehicles; the federal government has also initiated 2,800 bridge repairs nationwide and a project to replace all lead pipes.
On the contrary, on the fight against wage discrimination and on the tax credit for parents with children, Biden has "failed": neither of the two measures has made progress in Congress. And it has also failed in managing immigration, an issue deeply felt by Republican voters: there has been no progress on immigration reform, nor do there seem to be the conditions for a bipartisan agreement.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/joe-biden-discorso-stato-unione-2023/ on Wed, 08 Feb 2023 14:59:41 +0000.