{"id":41914,"date":"2022-03-02T05:11:42","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-addresses-russia-inflation-and-a-new-era-of-the-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:04:16","slug":"biden-addresses-russia-inflation-and-a-new-era-of-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-addresses-russia-inflation-and-a-new-era-of-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden addresses Russia, inflation and a new era of the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"President
President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on Tuesday in Washington. (Saul Loeb\/Associated Press pool)<\/span>Saul Loeb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

WASHINGTON \u2013 President Joe Biden drew a firm stance against Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and outlined plans to fight rising inflation and cautiously pivot away from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Throughout the speech, Biden heralded national unity as the key to fighting crises at home and abroad. But he was met at least once with heckles from Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our fellow Ukrainian Americans who forge a deep bond that connects our two nations, we stand with you,\u201d Biden said. \u201cPutin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people. He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never weaken the resolve of the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of representatives seated in the chamber sported Ukrainian flags and badges, which they waved periodically in support of the country. Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova attended as one of first lady Jill Biden\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n

The 62-minute speech comes at a pivotal moment in Biden\u2019s tenure, as the upcoming 2022 midterms threaten to upend the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. At home, inflation has hit a 40-year high and Biden\u2019s average approval rating sits just above 41%, according to FiveThirtyEight. Abroad, Russia\u2019s attack on Ukraine has helped define Biden\u2019s foreign policy approach. Tuesday\u2019s speech marked the second time Biden has addressed a joint session of Congress.<\/p>\n

Biden urged the country to start moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic, telling Americans that though the virus should no longer control daily life, his administration will continue to combat the virus with four \u201ccommon-sense steps,\u201d which included providing more free tests to households starting next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the progress we\u2019ve made, because of your resilience and the tools we have, tonight I can say we are moving forward safely, back to more normal routines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Continuing the fight against the pandemic as it wanes will require more funding, Biden said, as he asked Congress to pass legislation that would pay for the availability of free vaccines, tests and masks.<\/p>\n

Biden also outlined his plans to address rising inflation by increasing investments in domestic manufacturing and urging companies to \u201clower your costs, not your wages.\u201d Among the policy priorities Biden highlighted was a call to extend the Child Tax Credit, one of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet\u2019s keystone legislative priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs President Biden said, this is a moment for Americans to come together, stand up for democracy, and strengthen our economy to drive opportunity to all,\u201d Bennet said in a statement released shortly after the speech. \u201cNow is the time for Congress to support the people of Ukraine and punish Russia\u2019s aggression, cut costs for working families, and do everything we can to help America return to normal so businesses can stay open and students can stay in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biden also touched on the progress the nation has made during the past year, with most Americans vaccinated and his infrastructure bill, a major campaign promise, signed into law. Throughout the speech, Biden highlighted several aspects of his stalled Build Back Better bill, but never mentioned it explicitly.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., left, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., right, scream \u201cbuild the wall\u201d as President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein\/Pool via AP)<\/span>Saul Loeb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wears an outfit reading \u201cDrill Baby Drill\u201d as she arrives in the chamber of the House of Representatives before the State of the Union address by President Joe Biden. (Jim Lo Scalzo\/Pool via AP)<\/span>Saul Loeb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Boebert, who tweeted frequently throughout Biden\u2019s speech, called Biden \u201cthe weakest and worst president in American history,\u201d in a video statement<\/a> posted to Twitter after the address.<\/p>\n

Near the end of Biden\u2019s speech, as he was discussing toxic smoke in Iraq and Afghanistan that causes \u201ca cancer that would put (troops) in a flag-draped coffin,\u201d Boebert yelled<\/a>, \u201cYou put them in \u2013 13 of them,\u201d eliciting boos from the Democratic side of the chamber. The disruption appeared to be a dig at the 13 soldiers who died during the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Boebert, who wore a shawl with the words\u201cDrill baby drill\u201d on the back, was also seen joining fellow Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouting<\/a> \u201cbuild the wall\u201d leading up to Biden\u2019s remarks on immigration.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s final remarks defined America as a nation of possibilities that must unite \u201cto meet and overcome the challenges of our time. And we will, as one people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Skye Witley, a senior at American University in Washington, D.C., is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez. He can be reached at switley@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boebert heckles president during one of most disruptive moments of State of the Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,28,716,367,25,1566],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-headlines","tag-president-joseph-biden","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert","tag-u-s-sen-michael-bennet","tag-u-s-senate"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85145,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41914\/revisions\/85145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41914"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}