Full video of the speech as published by theWhite House | |
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| Date | March 1, 2022 (2022-03-01) |
|---|---|
| Time | 9:00 pm[1] (EST) |
| Duration | 1 hour, 1 minute |
| Venue | House Chamber,United States Capitol |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′19.8″N77°00′32.8″W / 38.888833°N 77.009111°W /38.888833; -77.009111 |
| Type | State of the Union Address |
| Participants | |
| Footage | C-SPAN |
| Previous | 2021 Joint session speech |
| Next | 2023 State of the Union Address |
| Website | Full text by Archives.gov |
The2022 State of the Union Address was given by the 46thpresident of the United States,Joe Biden, on March 1, 2022, at 9:00 p.m.EST, in the chamber of theUnited States House of Representatives to the117th United States Congress.[1][2]
It was Biden's firstState of the Union Address[3] and hissecond speech to ajoint session of the United States Congress.[4] Presiding over this joint session was theHouse speaker,Nancy Pelosi, accompanied byKamala Harris, thevice president, in her capacity as thepresident of the Senate.[4][a]
Biden's speech was primarily focused on theRussian invasion of Ukraine, which began six days earlier, as well as his touting of major policy achievements and goals surrounding theCOVID-19 pandemic, the economy, and social issues.[5]
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Referring to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukrainian territory, Biden called for worldwide solidarity with the Ukrainian people. At one point all in attendance gave a standing ovation to the Ukrainian ambassador who was in attendance, with many lawmakers wearing or holding Ukrainian flags in support.[6] The recent invasion prompted the White House to drastically alter the speech just days before as events unfolded in Ukraine.[7][8] However, in a widely reported gaffe, Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainians as the "Iranian people" while addressing Congress.[9][10][11] Biden rebuked calls todefund the police, saying "the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police".[12] This drew criticism from someBlack Lives Matter activists, including Democratic representativeCori Bush.[13]
Biden used the opportunity to outline a four-point unity agenda that included Biden's emphasis on a cancermoonshot, care for veterans, tackling drug abuse, and addressing mental health.[14]
The date of the address, March 1, was approximately one month later than usual; all State of the Union addresses since 1934 have occurred in either January or early February.[15] Some observers in the media attributed the cause of the delay to the spread of theOmicron variant during the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, along with theUnited States’ participation in the2022 Winter Olympics.[2][16] Additionally, Clare Foran and Kevin Liptak stated in an article published byCNN that the delay "would give Biden more time to try to accomplish some of his legislative goals before addressing Congress and the nation".[15] Although theConstitution of the United States requires the president to give Congress information about the "State of the Union", it does not specify when or how frequently this must occur, only "from time to time".[15]
GOP RepresentativesMarjorie Taylor Greene andLauren Boebert disrupted Biden during his speech at one point, with both chanting theTrumpist political slogan"Build the wall". Boebert also criticized the American presence inAfghanistan by shouting "You put them in, 13 of them", in reference to the 13 service members who died in the2021 Kabul airport attack. A number of lawmakers booed Representative Boebert in response to her interruption of the President.[17]
Iowa governorKim Reynolds gave the Republican response to the State of the Union address.[18] She mentioned thewithdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan and theRussian invasion of Ukraine. She also criticized the president's approach to foreign policy as "too little, too late." Relating to domestic policy, she criticized high inflation rates. She also criticized mask mandates and Democrats' handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She said that as Governor of Iowa, her state was the first to reopen schools. She also criticizedBiden's border policy.
North Carolina Senate candidate Matthew Hoh gave the Green Party's response to the State of the Union Address.[19] He drew parallels between theUnited States invasion of Afghanistan and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he claimed "has verily nearly everything to do with liquid natural gas markets, and other commercial concerns, and with the megalomania of those in DC, Moscow, London, and Kyiv." He argued that wars and the failure to stymie the COVID-19 pandemic are evidence that the government puts profit over people, and that "our government will respond to theclimate crisis" in a similar manner.
The chair of theLibertarian National CommitteeWhitney Bilyeu gave the Libertarian response to the State of the Union Address. While she agreed with Biden's sanction of top level Russia politicians, she criticized the sanctions placed on Russia as a whole as she believe it would hurt common Russian people the most. She also took a generalanti-war andisolationist stance toward theinvasion of Ukraine, opposing military involvement of U.S. troops. She criticizedmask mandates imposed by the Biden administration, seeing it as ineffectual and intrusive on personal liberty. She mentioned the inflation seen under the Biden administration and thinks it is an effect of long term adoption ofKeynesian economics in U.S. government and plans to solve it throughlaissez-faire capitalism. She also briefly beseeches Biden to immediately pardonEdward Snowden.[20]
RepresentativeRashida Tlaib gave theWorking Families Party response to the State of the Union address.[21] RepresentativeColin Allred gave theCongressional Black Caucus response to the State of the Union, the first time ever that the caucus offered an official response to the event.[22] Over 30 young leaders representing 26 states gave the Youth Response to the State of the Union, as part of the Young People Address the Nation event series.[23]
The speech was carried live in the United States byNBC,CBS,ABC,PBS,CNN,Fox News Channel,MSNBC,Newsmax TV,CNBC,NewsNation, andBlack News Channel. In addition, Spanish-language networksUnivision,Telemundo, andCNNe aired the speech.[24]
Ratings for various networks:[25]
| Network | Viewers |
|---|---|
| FNC | 7,206,000[25] |
| ABC | 6,302,000[25] |
| CBS | 4,857,000[25] |
| CNN | 4,830,000[25] |
| NBC | 4,705,000[25] |
| MSNBC | 4,057,000[25] |
| Fox | 1,858,000[25] |
| Univision | 1,350,000[24] |
| Telemundo | 1,160,000[24] |
| Newsmax | 462,000[25] |
| CNBC | 284,000[25] |
Broadcast networks Cable news networks
For the event, first ladyJill Biden and second gentlemanDoug Emhoff hosted theUkrainian ambassador to the United States,Oksana Markarova in their box.[26] Other guests included a CEO of a major American corporation as well as citizens representing support for causes such asNative American advocacy, military spouses, nurses, teachers, students, and union workers.[27]
The full list consisted of
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