Biden’s Address to Congress

On his 99th day in office, President Joe Biden gave an address to a joint session of Congress. President Biden was greeted by a limited number of members of Congress due to the strict social distancing rules on the House floor. All the seatings for senators and representatives were marked with their names, as the House floor looked empty. President Biden began his address to the joint session of Congress by introducing his Vice President Kampala Harris and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, “Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President, no president has ever said those words from this podium, no president has ever said those words and it’s about time.” Accompanied by a loud cheer, Vice President Harris and Speaker Pelosi received claps from the President and fellow members on the House floor. In his speech, President Biden utilized the word “job” 43 times as he emphasized his “American Jobs Plan” and the speedy recovery of the economy as the unemployment rate steadily decreased under his tenure. Along with the “American Jobs Plan”, President Biden introduced a $1.8 billion “American Families Plan” which is aimed to benefit families and children providing necessary childcare, funding schools from preschools up to colleges, reduce Affordable Care Act’s health insurance premiums, and other social benefits. With Democrats holding a narrow majority in both the Senate and the House, it now comes down to President Biden’s ability to sell the plan to the general public as a necessity rather than a luxury. President Biden did make multiple misleadings and factually inaccurate claims, with many media companies reporting fact-checks on his speech, such as the claims on economy including the state of the economy when he took office, and on immigration at the Southern Border. On the other hand, President Biden was able to state his achievement in accomplishing his vaccination goals within his first 100 days in office, “We are already seeing the results. After I promised we would get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots into people’s arms in 100 days, we will have provided over 220 million COVID shots in those 100 days.” As every American over the age of 16 can now receive the COVID-19 vaccines, it is only a matter of time before the United States gets back on track as President Biden stated, “Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again.”