Biden’s First Speech to US Congress and Its Most Important Points

April 29, 2021- President Biden of the United States delivered his first address to a joint session of the US Congress. Mr. Biden spoke to a socially distanced audience of less than 200 congress officials and lawmakers, which is a small fraction of the amount of people in a packed audience who typically would attend such an address.

Biden began with a not-so-subtle dig at his predecessor, Donald Trump. He said that he as a president has “inherited a nation in crisis,” and described the US as a “house on fire”. After adding that America never stays down, Biden declared that “the nation is on the move again. America is rising anew. Choosing hope over fear. Truth over lies. Light over darkness. After 100 days of rescue and renewal, America is ready for take-off. We are working again. Dreaming again. Discovering again. Leading the world again.”

Biden addressed George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin. Racial tensions have been high following his death in May of 2020 in Minneapolis: “We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America. We won’t ignore what our own intelligence agencies have determined- the most lethal terrorist threat to the homeland today is from white supremacist terrorism.”

The US president did, however, defend the police too, garnering applause, by saying that “most men and women in uniform wear their badge and serve their community honorably.” But afterwards, he said there is much work that must be done to “rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system.”

Much of Biden’s speech focused on his big-budget plans for overhauling US infrastructure and social programs, which could all rely on increasing taxation on the rich. The president insisted that his was fair play: “It’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to pay their fair share. Just pay their fair share,” he said. “A lot of companies evade taxes through tax havens from Switzerland to Bermuda to the Cayman Islands, and they benefit from tax loopholes and deductions that allow for offshoring jobs and shifting profits overseas. That’s not right.”

Biden emphasized how his proposed tax reforms would help to “reward work, not wealth” and affect three tenths of 1% of all Americans. The government also plans to “crack down” on the millionaires and billionaires who cheat on tax payments. “Look, I’m not trying to punish anyone- but I will not add tax to the burden of the middle-class of the country,” Mr. Biden said. “What I’ve proposed is fair.”

Mr. Biden concluded his speech and closed the evening by recalling the events that took place on January 6 when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. At the start of his speech, Biden described this event as, “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War”. He then asked the lawmakers of Congress to prove that democracy can rise above such actions.

“Can our democracy deliver on the most pressing needs of our people? Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate and fears that have pulled us apart? America’s adversaries – the autocrats of the world – are betting it can’t,” he said.

“They believe we are too full of anger and division and rage. They look at the images of the mob that assaulted this Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy.”

“They are wrong. And we have to prove them wrong. We have to prove democracy still works.”

Biden’s presidency, especially during the current political climate in the United States, is very important to millions of people around the world, because Biden is a crucial part of building the pathway they want for the US to make it better in many ways, including and especially abolishing the systemic racism and discrimination within the criminal justice system.