A transcript of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7, 2024, as prepared for delivery and provided by the White House:
Good evening.
Mr. Speaker. Madam Vice President. Members of Congress. My Fellow Americans.
In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation.
He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.”
Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe.
President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.
Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.
Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation.
Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union.
And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either.
Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today.
What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.
Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond.
If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not.
But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.
In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way.
But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world.
It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.
It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable
America is a founding member of NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace.
Today, we’ve made NATO stronger than ever.
We welcomed Finland to the Alliance last year, and just this morning, Sweden officially joined NATO, and their Prime Minister is here tonight. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known.
I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill.
History is watching.
If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe at risk. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm.
My message to President Putin is simple.
We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.
History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th.
Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy.
Many of you were here on that darkest of days.
We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots.
They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people.
January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.
But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.
But we must be honest the threat remains and democracy must be defended.
My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th.
I will not do that.
This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies.
And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.
Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic.
Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear –political violence has absolutely no place in America! History is watching.
And history is watching another assault on freedom.
She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
She was told her dream would have to wait.
What her family has gone through should never have happened. And unless Congress acts, it could happen again.
So tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers!
To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide!
Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right. And I thank Vice President Harris for being an incredible leader, defending reproductive freedom and so much more.
But my predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned.
When she became pregnant again, the fetus had a fatal condition. Her doctors told Kate that her own life and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she didn’t act.
What her family has gone through should never have happened as well. But it is happening to so many others.
Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom.
My God, what freedoms will you take away next?
In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, “Women are not without –
No kidding.
Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.
They found out though when reproductive freedom
If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again!
Four years ago next week, before I came to office, our country was hit by the worst pandemic and the worst economic crisis in a century.
A raging virus that would take more than 1 million American lives and leave millions of loved ones behind.
A mental health crisis of isolation and loneliness.
A president, my predecessor, who failed the most basic duty. Any President owes the American people the duty to care.
I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history.
And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told.
So let’s tell that story here and now.
The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer.
That’s America!
15 million new jobs in just three years – that’s a record!
Unemployment at 50-year lows.
A record 16 million Americans are starting small businesses and each one is an act of hope.
The racial wealth gap is the smallest it’s been in 20 years.
Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down!
Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3% – the lowest in the world!
And now instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs – right here in America where they belong!
Consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring.
Past administrations including my predecessor failed to Buy American.
Not any more.
On my watch, federal projects like helping to build American roads bridges and highways will be made with American products built by American workers creating good-paying American jobs!
During the pandemic a shortage of semiconductor chips drove up prices for everything from cell phones to automobiles.
Well instead of having to import semiconductor chips, which America invented I might add, private companies are now investing billions of dollars to build new chip factories here in America!
Creating tens of thousands of jobs many of them paying over $100,000 a year and don’t require a college degree.
Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities – modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems.
Providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where you live.
Record investments in tribal communities.
Because of my investments, family farms are better be able to stay in the family and children and grandchildren won’t have to leave home to make a living.
It’s transformative.
Before I came to office the plant was on its way to shutting down.
Thousands of workers feared for their livelihoods. Hope was fading.
Then I was elected to office and we raised Belvidere repeatedly with the auto company knowing unions make all the difference.
Instead of an auto factory shutting down an auto factory is re-opening and a new state-of-the art battery factory is being built to power those cars.
Because instead of watching auto jobs of the future go overseas 4,000 union workers with higher wages will be building that future, in Belvidere, here in America!
And Dawn Simms, a third generation UAW worker in Belvidere.
Shawn, I was proud to be the first President in American history to walk a picket line.
And today Dawn has a job in her hometown providing stability for her family and pride and dignity.
The middle class built this country! And unions built the middle class!
When Americans get knocked down, we get back up!
We keep going!
It’s because of you America is coming back!
And it’s because of you that tonight we can proudly say the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger!
A future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks.
I grew up in a home where not a lot trickled down on my Dad’s kitchen table.
That’s why I’m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well the poor have a way up and the wealthy still does well.
And there’s more to do to make sure you’re feeling the benefits of all we’re doing.
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else.
It’s wrong and I’m ending it.
Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!
For years people have talked about it but I finally got it done and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs just like the VA does for our veterans.
It’s saving taxpayers money cutting the federal deficit by $160 Billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay exorbitant prices to Big Pharma.
This year Medicare is negotiating lower prices for some of the costliest drugs on the market that treat everything from heart disease to arthritis.
Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade.
Starting next year that same law caps total prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 a year even for expensive cancer drugs that can cost $10,000, $12,000, $15,000 a year.
Now I want to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for everyone!
Folks Obamacare, known as the Affordable Care Act is still a very big deal.
But my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act I won’t let that happen!
In fact I am protecting it and expanding it.
Those tax credits expire next year.
I want to make those savings permanent!
Women are more than half of our population but research on women’s health has always been underfunded.
Pass my plan for $12 Billion to transform women’s health research and benefit millions of lives across America!
I know the cost of housing is so important to you.
If inflation keeps coming down mortgage rates will come down as well.
I want to provide an annual tax credit that will give Americans $400 a month for the next two years as mortgage rates come down to put toward their mortgage when they buy a first home or trade up for a little more space.
When you refinance your home this can save you $1,000 or more.
I’ve cut red tape so more builders can get federal financing, which is already helping build a record 1.7 million housing units nationwide.
Now pass my plan to build and renovate 2 million affordable homes and bring those rents down!
To remain the strongest economy in the world we need the best education system in the world.
Studies show that children who go to pre-school are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a 2- or 4-year degree no matter their background.
I want to expand high-quality tutoring and summer learning time and see to it that every child learns to read by third grade.
I’m also connecting businesses and high schools so students get hands-on experience and a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college.
Let’s continue increasing Pell Grants for working- and middle-class families and increase our record investments in HBCUs and Hispanic and Minority-serving Institutions
He’s educated hundreds of students so they can go to college now he can help his own daughter pay for college.
While we’re at it I want to give public school teachers a raise!
Now let me speak to a question of fundamental fairness for all Americans.
I’ve been delivering real results in a fiscally responsible way.
I signed a bipartisan budget deal that will cut another trillion dollars over the next decade.
And now it’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share.
Look, I’m a capitalist.
Just pay your fair share in taxes.
that make a country great, health care, education, defense, and more.
The last administration enacted a $2 Trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit.
They added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history.
For folks at home does anybody really think the tax code is fair?
I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair!
Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes.
Nobody. Not one penny.
Restore the Child Tax Credit because no child should go hungry in this country!
In 2020 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 Billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes.
Thanks to the law I wrote and signed big companies now have to pay a minimum of 15%.
But that’s still less than working people pay in federal taxes.
It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21% so every big corporation finally begins to pay their fair share.
End it now!
There are 1,000 billionaires in America.
You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2 percent!
No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse!
That would raise $500 Billion over the next 10 years.
Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.
Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!
Tonight, let’s all agree once again to stand up for seniors!
If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them!
Working people who built this country pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires do. It’s not fair.
We have two ways to go on Social Security.
I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share!
That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging or deceptive pricing from food to health care to housing.
but with fewer chips in it.
Pass Senator Bob Casey’s bill to put a stop to shrinkflation!
I’m also getting rid of junk fees those hidden fees added at the end of your bills without your knowledge. My administration just announced we’re cutting credit card late fees from $32 to just $8.
Why?
I’m saving American families $20 billion a year with all of the junk fees I’m eliminating.
And I’m not stopping there.
It matters.
In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators.
in this country.
That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers.
100 more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases.
100 more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl into America.
This bill would save lives and bring order to the border.
It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.
The Chamber of Commerce endorsed the bill.
But unfortunately, politics have derailed it so far.
It’s not about him or me.
It’d be a winner for America!
My Republican friends you owe it to the American people to get this bill done.
And if my predecessor is watching instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block this bill, join me in telling Congress to pass it!
We can do it together. But here’s what I will not do.
I will not demonize immigrants saying they “poison the blood of our country” as he said in his own words.
I will not ban people from America because of their faith.
Because unlike my predecessor, I know who we are as Americans.
Home to Native Americans whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Home to people from every place on Earth.
Some came freely.
Some chained by force.
Some to flee persecution.
Some to chase dreams that are impossible anywhere but here in America.
That’s America, where we all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans.
Send me the border bill now!
Hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named after a Grand Dragon of the KKK, to claim their fundamental right to vote.
Our late friend and former colleague John Lewis was at the march.
We miss him.
Joining us tonight are other marchers who were there including Betty May Fikes, known as the “Voice of Selma”.
to help shake the nation’s conscience. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.
But 59 years later, there are forces taking us back in time.
Voter suppression. Election subversion. Unlimited dark money. Extreme gerrymandering.
Pass and send me the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act!
Banning books.
Instead of erasing history, let’s make history!
I want to protect other fundamental rights!
Pass the Equality Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back!
We are also making history by confronting the climate crisis, not denying it.
I’m taking the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.
I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030.
I’ll triple that number this decade.
The year before I took office, murders went up 30% nationwide the biggest increase in history.
That was then.
Now, through my American Rescue Plan, which every Republican voted against, I’ve made the largest investment in public safety ever.
But we have more to do.
Help cities and towns invest in more community police officers, more mental health workers, and more community violence intervention.
Give communities the tools to crack down on gun crime, retail crime, and carjacking.
To take on crimes of domestic violence, I am ramping up federal enforcement of the Violence Against Women Act, that I proudly wrote, so we can finally end the scourge of violence against women in America!
With us tonight is Jasmine, whose 9-year-old sister Jackie was murdered with 21 classmates and teachers at her elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
We heard their message, and so should everyone in this chamber do something.
I did do something by establishing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House that Vice President Harris is leading.
Meanwhile, my predecessor told the NRA he’s proud he did nothing on guns when he was President.
I say we must stop it.
I’m proud we beat the NRA when I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years!
Now we must beat the NRA again!
Pass universal background checks!
As we manage challenges at home, we’re also managing crises abroad including in the Middle East.
This crisis began on October 7th with a massacre by the terrorist group Hamas.
1,200 innocent people women and girls men and boys slaughtered, many enduring sexual violence.
The deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Here in the chamber tonight are American families whose loved ones are still being held by Hamas.
I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home.
We will also work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul, Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.
Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th.
This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined.
Most of whom are not Hamas.
Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children.
Girls and boys also orphaned.
Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin.
Families without food, water, medicine.
It’s heartbreaking.
It would get the hostages home, ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward something more enduring.
Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.
This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.
But Israel must also do its part.
Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire.
Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.
Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.
As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.
There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy.
There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.
That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend U.S. Forces in the region.
As Commander in Chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and military personnel.
They’ve got it backward.
America is rising.
We have the best economy in the world.
And our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade.
And standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China’s weapons.
Frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do that.
We want competition with China, but not conflict.
Here at home I’ve signed over 400 bipartisan bills.
But there’s more to do to pass my Unity Agenda.
Strengthen penalties on fentanyl trafficking.
Harness the promise of A.I. and protect us from its peril.
And keep our one truly sacred obligation, to train and equip those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don’t.
Many of them didn’t come home.
We owe them and their families.
And we owe it to ourselves to keep supporting our new health research agency called ARPA-H and remind us that we can do big things like end cancer as we know it!
I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while.
And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before.
I know the American story.
Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.
A future based on the core values that have defined America.
To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor.
Now some other people my age see a different story.
An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution.
I was born amid World War II when America stood for freedom in the world.
I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware among working people who built this country.
I watched in horror as two of my heroes, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated and their legacies inspired me to pursue a career in service.
In my career I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old.
Our North Star.
We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either.
And I won’t walk away from it now.
My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are?
But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.
To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be.
Tonight you’ve heard mine.
I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away.
I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence.
I see a country for all Americans!
And I will always be a president for all Americans!
Because I believe in America!
You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future!
So let’s build that future together!
Let’s remember who we are!
There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together!
May God protect our troops.
