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Following Biden’s SOTU address last night where he called for universal preschool and teacher raises, the president tweeted on Wednesday, “Let’s give public school teachers a raise.”
Let’s give public school teachers a raise.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 8, 2023During his address last night, Biden said:
“Restoring the dignity of work also means making education an affordable ticket to the middle class.
When we made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best-educated, best-prepared nation in the world.
But the world has caught up.”
The country is currently facing a teacher shortage as a result of low wages, high stress and an increasingly divided educational culture war following conservative pushback against topics such as American history, racism, gender and sexuality, among others.
A tense exchange between Republican congressman George Santos and Republican senator Mitt Romney was caught on video last night as Biden was due to deliver his address.
“You ought to be embarrassed,” Romney told Santos, who is expected to face an investigation by the House Ethics Committee following revelations that the freshman congressman falsified large portions of his biography.
Romney later told reporters that Santos “shouldn’t have been there…”
“Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president,” he said.
Asked Mitt Romney if he’s disappointed that Speaker McCarthy hasn’t called on George Santos to resign.
“Yes,” he said.
Santos “should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the President and people coming into the room,” Romney said. pic.twitter.com/obpaYD8v1x
Strong State of Union speech signals greater chance of Biden 2024 rerun
Joe Biden’s strong performance at the State of the Union address last night was a blow to critics on the right – and within his own party – and seemed a certain boost to the chances of him running for a second term in the White House in the 2024 election.
And amid questions over his age as the oldest US president in history, at 80, vice president Kamala Harris praised him as bold and vibrant in an interview this morning, while he boosted her in a celebratory tweet.
The whole show appeared to amplify the steady drumbeat that Biden will run again – and put Harris on the ticket with him as he did in 2020.
The president presented his administration’s achievements at last night’s speech including record job growth. He also called on Republicans to help him “finish the job” of ensuring economic recovery and healing sociopolitical divides across the country.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” said Biden, adding, “Pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years.”
Biden also addressed other major issues including US-China relations, threats to social security and Medicare, police violence, gun control, reproductive rights, and political violence.
Notable guests at the address included Tyre Nichols’ family, Monterey Park shooting hero Brandon Tsay, U2 singer Bono, Paul Pelosi and Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova.
Harris praised Biden, saying that he “did a great job.”
Biden's strong State of the Union performance boosts chances of re-run for White House in 2024
Good morning, US politics readers. We are coming off the back of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last night where he presented his administration’s achievements since taking office in 2021 and condemned Republicans seeking to cut social security and Medicare – to which a few responded with boos and heckling.
During what some saw as a “soft launch for his 2024 campaign,” Biden also addressed the US being in the “strongest position in decades” to challenge China, called for the need of meaningful policing as Tyre Nichols’ family watched on from the audience, and condemned rightwing threats to democracy.
In response to Biden’s address, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered her own speech, calling the president “crazy” and “unfit to serve.” The former president Donald Trump’s White House press secretary also condemned his Democratic supporters, calling them the “woke mob” and “radical left”.
As we bring you the latest on today’s US politics, here’s what we can expect today:
Biden will deliver remarks on the economy later this afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin.
Vice-president Kamala Harris will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to participate in a conversation on climate change.
Three former Twitter executives will testify at the House oversight committee over the social media platform’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
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