State of the Union 2023: Biden to pitch health-focused agenda to divided Congress
Naomi Lim
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President Joe Biden will pitch an updated “Unity Agenda” during his second State of the Union address, spotlighting healthcare and veterans, according to the White House.
But White House aides are remaining mum regarding the prospect of his new agenda items being passed by a recalcitrant House, now controlled by Republicans, instead amplifying his past accomplishments and a desire to deliver for the general public.
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In addition to investments in cancer research, veterans, and mental health, Biden will announce “a forceful approach” to countering fentanyl trafficking and overdose deaths.
“We are going to build on the historic progress we’re making by using advanced technology to stop more fentanyl at the border and working with commercial package delivery companies to catch more packages containing fentanyl,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told reporters Tuesday.
“We’re going to work with Congress to permanently control fentanyl-related substances, so we can make sure that traffickers are held accountable,” he said. “We’re also going to launch a national campaign with the Ad Council to educate young people, [which] will save lives from the dangers of fentanyl.”
Danielle Carnival, Biden’s cancer moonshot coordinator, added the president will similarly speak to the dangers of smoking, connecting a reduction in smoking rates to a decrease in cancer death rates during the last 30 years.
“A lot of that’s through tobacco cessation, but it’s still an issue,” she said during the same phone call. “So we’re committed to continuing to use authorities and programs to keep making progress and especially with a focus on helping individuals avoid smoking in the first place and supporting Americans who want to quit.”
But when pressed on the likelihood of some of his proposals passing Congress, Christen Linke Young, the deputy assistant to the president for health and veterans affairs, pivoted to previous achievements notched with a Democrat-controlled House.
“We have seen that we can deliver on these priorities and make life better for Americans by working together with members of Congress of both parties across this full agenda,” she said. “And what you’ll hear him talk about in tonight’s State of the Union is a desire to keep moving forward.”
Biden is also expected to call for new “Made in America” construction rules, an insulin price cap, “junk-free” prevention legislation, Medicaid to be expanded in 11 states, and the extension of a more generous child tax credit during his remarks.
Biden earlier described the overarching purpose of his State of the Union address as an opportunity “to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs” amid reelection speculation.
“What’s going on, why I — what I’m looking forward to working on from this point on, what we’ve done, and just have a conversation,” he said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and outgoing National Economic Council Director Brian Deese spent Monday making Biden’s economic case, with lawmakers being provided with economic data points concerning inflation and manufacturing jobs on flashcards. The pair declared 2023 as “the year” when the public will feel the effects of the bipartisan infrastructure package and the CHIPS Act, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Ultimately, the ultimate test of an economic policy, an economic outcome, is whether families feel more economic security in their lives,” Deese said.
First lady Jill Biden, too, revealed her State of the Union special guests, who range from Bono to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s husband Paul and Tyre Nichols’s parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells.
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Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, meanwhile, is leading the GOP’s prebuttal, ripping Biden’s “weaker” State of the Union in which “American families are suffering.”
“There is a reason Republicans took back the House, and that’s because of speeches like tonight where Biden will ignore and deflect blame for inflation, rising crime, and a border crisis he created,” she said. “Americans deserve solutions, but all they’ll hear from Biden are excuses.”