Biden says in State of Union that US is ‘unbowed, unbroken’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is using his State of the Union address Tuesday night to call on Republicans to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he seeks to overcome pessimism in the country and navigate political divisions in Washington.

The annual speech comes as the nation struggles to make sense of confounding cross-currents at home and abroad — economic uncertainty, a wearying war in Ukraine, growing tensions with China and more — and warily sizes up Biden's fitness for a likely re-election bid.

The president is offering a reassuring assessment of the nation's condition rather than rolling out flashy policy proposals.

“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience,” Biden is declaring, according to excerpts released in advance by the White House. He's highlighting record job creation under his tenure as the country has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. And he's declaring that two years after the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, the country's democracy is “unbowed and unbroken.”

With Republicans now in control of the House, Biden is pointing to areas of bipartisan progress in his first two years in office, including on states' vital infrastructure and high tech manufacturing. And he says, “There is no reason we can't work together in this new Congress.”

“The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere,” Biden is saying. “And that's always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America — the middle class — to unite the country.”

“We've been sent here to finish the job!”

The president is taking the House rostrum at a time when just a quarter of US adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About three-quarters say things are on the wrong track. And a majority of Democrats don't want Biden to seek another term.

He is confronting those sentiments head on, aides say.

“You wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away, I get it,” Biden says. “That's why we're building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years.”

The setting for Biden's speech looks markedly different from a year ago, when it was Democratic stalwart Nancy Pelosi seated behind him as House speaker — though tighter-than-usual security measures returned in a vestige of the 2021 attack. Pelosi's been replaced by Republican Kevin McCarthy, and it was unclear what kind of reception restive Republicans in the chamber would give the Democratic president.

McCarthy on Monday vowed to be “respectful” during the address and in turn asked Biden to refrain from using the phrase “extreme MAGA Republicans,” which the president deployed on the campaign trail in 2022.

“I won't tear up the speech, I won't play games,” McCarthy told reporters, a reference to Pelosi's dramatic action after President Donald Trump's final State of the Union address.

With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and legislators from both parties invited guests designed to drive home political messages with their presence in the House chamber. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those expected to be seated with first lady Jill Biden. Other Biden guests include the rock star/humanitarian Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month's Monterey Park, California, shooting.

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