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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden used his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night to reassert America as a leading global voice for democracy and condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting an “unprovoked” war in Ukraine.“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden told a joint session of Congress meeting in the U.S. House chamber. “They keep moving. And the costs and threats to America and to the world keep rising.”

Biden called on Congress to “send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and to the world,” as he pointed to the gallery above the House floor where the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova joined first lady Jill Biden as one of her nine guests.

In a moment of unity, lawmakers rose, waved small Ukrainian flags and cheered on Markarova and the people of Ukraine as they battle the Russian invasion.

“From President Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world,” Biden said.

But Biden also spent a significant amount of time on issues challenging Americans every day, including inflation, gun violence and the country’s path out of a two-year-long pandemic that’s claimed the lives of nearly 1 million Americans.

“We meet tonight in an America that has lived through two of the hardest years this nation has ever faced. The pandemic has been punishing,” he said.

The event also saw a sharp reminder of the tensions and extreme partisanship that have marked Congress in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

As Biden spoke about burn pits that have caused illnesses among Iraqi war veterans and mentioned the death of his son, Beau, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado interrupted. She shouted from the floor of the chamber that he is to blame for the deaths of 13 soldiers who died in August during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“You put them in (coffins), 13 of them,” Boebert yelled.

Democrats booed her. One lawmaker said, “Someone kick her out.”

Boebert and Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also were both seen standing and yelling for Biden to “build the wall” during a portion of his speech that focused on immigration policy.

U.S. air space closed to Russian airlines
In a major policy announcement on Ukraine, Biden used the speech to say that U.S. airspace will no longer be open to Russian aircraft. He received a standing ovation.

The new restriction, on top of several rounds of economic sanctions announced last week, shows ongoing unity among Western democracies. The European Union and Canada have already blocked Russian planes from their airspace.

Concern over the war in Ukraine was reflected throughout the audience, with members of Congress wearing the bright blue and yellow colors of Ukraine’s flag, or displaying sunflowers, the national flower. Jill Biden’s violet dress had a sunflower added to the sleeve just above her wrist.

During the speech, Biden laid out his view of American foreign policy and defense strategy amid a renewed drive from Putin to expand Russia’s borders. Biden said that he and American allies are working to secure oil barrels and announced that the U.S. would be “releasing 30 million barrels from our own Strategic Petroleum Reserve” to “help blunt gas prices here at home.”

“A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world,” he said.

The speech could be Biden’s last to a Congress controlled by Democrats, and he sought to use it to speak directly to Americans — and seemingly reluctant members of his own party — about domestic policies he believes could improve daily life and the economy.

Some of those policies, which he’s pushed for in his social and climate spending package known as Build Back Better, include providing universal pre-K and child care, capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month and investing in community colleges.

He also called on the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which would prevent gerrymandering, protect poll workers and require all states to offer at least two weeks of early voting, as well as establish a national voting day, among other provisions. That legislation has stalled in the chamber amid opposition from members of Biden’s own party.





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