What Went Down During President Biden’s Speech To Congress

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Biden largely played by the book, spending the bulk of his time focusing on three proposals that have quickly become centerpieces of his agenda: a $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, a $2 trillion infrastructure bill and $1.8 trillion for child care, universal pre-K and more.

Biden also addressed how he would tackle the climate crisis and racial injustice in the U.S., along with voting rights and a host of other topics, but they did not receive the same amount of attention as the three centerpieces of his administration. Interestingly, in some ways the GOP rebuttal to Biden’s speech, delivered by Scott, touched on these issues more.

But as my colleagues say below, in many ways, Biden’s speech was just what we’ve come to expect from presidential addresses to Congress — ambitious, hopeful, a little boring and perhaps not entirely practical, either. To relieve the live blog in all its chronological glory, scroll on through. But if that’s too much work, here are the team’s headlines:

Perry: President Biden Focuses Heavily On An Economic Agenda That Will Really Be Determined by Manchin

Nathaniel: Biden Prioritizes Three Massive Spending Packages In What Was Effectively His First State Of The Union Address

Alex: Jabs And Jobs: The New Democratic Agenda

Geoffrey: Biden Gives Humdrum Presidential Address, Continues Push For Return To Normalcy

Kaleigh: Biden’s Speech, Like His First 100 Days, Adequate

Julia: Tim Scott Responds To The Fiery Speech On Race That Biden Didn’t Give

Galen: Biden Focused On The Economy. Scott Focused On Race. Americans Focused On All The Other Things There Are To Do Besides Watching TV, Now That The Pandemic Is Receding.

Lee: Biden Promises To Transform The Economy, And Ted Cruz Pretends To Fall Asleep

Hakeem: Biden Reminds The Country That He’s Just Trying To Get Stuff Done. Oh, And Don’t Worry: He’s Definitely Not Joining ‘The Woke Left’ Anytime Soon.