President Joe Biden faces several challenges ahead of his first State of the Union address to Congress on March 1, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the White House’s need to push the president’s agenda, especially in economic matters, an issue that will have great weight in the speech.
“The president will present a solid case that the economic strategy of Biden-Harris is producing historic results and will present his plan to address economic challenges,” the White House announced.
According to Biden Administration officials, the president will “highlight” the progress made with the American Rescue Plan (ARP), as well as achievements in business matters and commercial investment, going back to that data that the Government has previously released about the greater economic growth in 40 years.
However, in the midst of inflation that reached 7% –the highest since 1982– and its direct effect in the pockets of Americans with the increase in prices of food and other products, the president will recognize the challenges that the COVID pandemic has left-.
“Too many families continue to feel the pressure of higher prices,” he anticipated. “The president will make it clear that entrenched price increases are pernicious and corrode the economic progress the country is making.”
In addition to acknowledging the challenge, the president will present a plan that contemplates four key aspects: (1) manufacture more products in the United States, in order to strengthen our supply chains and move goods in a faster and cheaper way; (2) reduce the cost of daily expenses of working families and reduce the deficit; (3) help small businesses and protect consumers, and (4) make sure there are more good paying jobs.
The White House does not reveal that the president is going to address the impact on the economic agenda of blocking the Build Back Better project, despite the fact that experts consider that the PRA, like the Tax Credit per Child significantly helped families.
“In the second half of 2021, families with low income were using their monthly Child Tax Credit deposits to help cover food costs and utility bills,” states a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). “The January inflation report underscores the urgency for lawmakers to extend the successful expansion of the Child Tax Credit.”
Ukraine’s Shadow
President Biden is expected to focus part of the message on the invasion of Ukraine, after this week his Administration blocked the Central Bank of Russia from transactions in the US ., which are added to other efforts to reduce its military operation and face consequences.
Spokesperson Jen Psaki acknowledged Sunday on ABC News that President Biden’s message will be different than planned.
“That is certainly something that is present in all of our lives and certainly in the life of the president at this moment,” he said, referring to Ukraine.
The president’s position is also key amid fears of nuclear war, after President Vladimir Putin put his forces “on alert” is special deterrence, including nuclear weapons.
In an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, the president made it clear that his Administration had two options on Russia and chose the economic one.
“You have two options: start a third world war, go to war with Russia, physically; or two, make sure that the country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying a price for having done so, ”he exposed.
Immigration pending
There is no clarity about the message that President Biden will give about immigration issues, but there are six general objectives pending from the president, according to a report by 26 civil organizations, including Immigration HUB , ROOTS, among others.
Those priorities are: protecting and ensuring families stay together, including immigration reform; act against measures that affect black immigrants, particularly Haitians;
“We are at a time when Congress is not acting on immigration reform…we applaud the president when at the beginning of his presidency he began with a very strong immigration reform plan,” admitted Lia Parada, director of Legislative Defense at Immigration HUB, one of the groups that participated in the preparation of the report, on the podcast “El Diario Sin Limites ”.
He added that the Biden Administration has not changed the situation on the border as former President Donald Trump left it with the Title 40 and the Migrant Protection Protocols, known as Remain in Mexico, in addition to the lack of implementation of the new asylum plan.
“We see this moment, the second year of Biden’s presidency, that he must take action, although in Congress, but also in his Administration,” Parada said.
Reverend Alvin Herring, executive director of Faith in Action, a coalition of religious organizations that defend freedom of belief, voting rights and immigration, agreed on the importance of immigration reform as a priority for President Biden.
“We know it is important for the Biden Administration,” he said, although he has not been able to keep that promise. “But we are going to listen carefully to what he will say on this matter.”
He added that the president’s position will be important, because undocumented immigrants were part of the workers on the front lines during the closures due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
“We cannot turn our backs on them”, stated the Reverend Herring. “They are here, we must make them see that they matter, that we are seeing them”.