President Joe Biden, 80, faces a joint-session of Congress tonight to deliver his second State-of-the-Union Speech, without a Democrat-controlled House. Instead of 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sitting behind him, 58-year-old newly minted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will get the honor next to Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden will focus on recent jobs gains that prompted 75-year-old Treasury Secretary Jane Yellin to say there’s no recession with the nation’s record unemployment rate. At the same time, Biden faces debt-ceiling negotiations with Republicans hell-bent on driving down federal spending and the $31.4 trillion national debt, leaving GOP lawmakers to pressure Biden to find cuts. Biden promises to whip Republicans into submission, saying an U.S. government default would only damage the U.S. economy.
Biden has been avoiding the 900-pound gorilla about funding the Ukraine government and war. Growing numbers of Republicans are growing skeptical of the blank check, over $60 billion, Biden has given the Ukraine government to fund the government and proxy war against the Russian Federation. Biden has not admitted the drag the Ukraine War puts on the U.S. economy, only talking about defending democracy in Europe. When Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress Dec. 21, 2022 he told elected officials that Ukraine is not a charity case but an investment in protecting democracy in Europe. Imagine that, Zelensky sold U.S. lawmakers on believing his bankrupt Kiev government, requiring 100% foreign aid to run his government, promised to protect democracy in Europe. What happened to NATO’s role in defending Western democracies?
Biden has enjoyed a loud contingent of GOP lawmakers, led by 68-year-old Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who’ve given him support to fund his proxy war using Ukrainian troops against the Kremlin. But the real question arises now how long can Biden afford to throw his economy into reverse funding another costly foreign war? Biden and his past boss former President Barack Obama, spent billions funding a proxy war in Syria trying tying to take down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Only when 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the fight to protect al-Assad, were Obama and Biden’s plans foiled in Syria. Twelve years later, Biden decides to give Ukraine a blank check to fund a proxy war against the Kremlin. Biden hasn’t acknowledged that his Russian oil embargo and proxy war in Ukraine fueled the worst inflation in 40 years, something he won’t mention tonight.
If Biden brings anyone to the State-of-the-Union speech, look for a Ukrainian refugee that fled Russian oppression to make a better life in the states. Biden surely won’t admit his Ukraine proxy has destabilized world energy markets, fueling today’s runaway inflation. Whatever the Federal Reserve Board does to hike interest rates, it harms ordinary consumers already suffering with high inflation, unable to make ends meet. Biden can tout the diminished role Covid-19 plays in American life, highlighting his government’s work in making vaccines and new anti-viral treatments available to American consumers. Look for Biden to take credit for beating the Covid-19 global pandemic and getting the U.S. economy back on tracking. Citing recent jobs data, Biden can boast about some 15 million jobs created under his watch in the last two years of his administration.
Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris were notorious in 2020 for laying all the blame for Covid-19 at Trump’s feet. Trump was never given credit for pushing vaccine makers into coming up with a vaccine in record time. Pfizer released its first vaccine only one week after the Nov. 3, 2020 presidential election. Biden and Harris said they would never trust a vaccine developed under Trump. Biden and Harris readily pushed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as soon as they came out. Biden wants to push Republicans to pass a continuing budget resolution to raise the debt ceiling to keep government functioning at leas for the next six months. Republicans hoped they could win concessions on cutting government spending, something Biden has refused to do. But with the GOP in control of the House, Biden will be forced to scale back at least some of his discretionary spending.
Biden isn’t likely at tonight’s State-of-the-Union Speech to acknowledge how his Ukraine proxy war has gutted the federal budget and added to the inflationary cycle causing hardship to American consumers. Highlighting the record low unemployment, Biden hopes to push the GOP to agree to his terms to increase the debt ceiling. Biden won’t admit that he needs to mend fences with China after shooting down a spy balloon that crossed the continental U.S. before shot down near Myrtle Beach, S.C. Biden’s track record on foreign policy has left the U.S. with the worst U.S.-Russian and U.S. Chinese relations in decades, returning the U.S. to Cold War. Biden won’t spend any time leveling with the public about the abysmal foreign relations, especially with U.S. adversaries. Look to Biden to milk every applause line possible with Republicans looking stone-faced across the aisle.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global new. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
