President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address in Washington on Thursday to draw a sharp contrast between his administration's accomplishments and priorities and those of his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.
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00:00 [crowd boos]
00:02 [crowd cheers]
00:07 - We have a deal.
00:10 Putin of Russia is on the march,
00:13 invading Ukraine and sowing chaos
00:16 throughout Europe and beyond.
00:18 If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine,
00:22 I assure you he will not.
00:24 [crowd cheers]
00:27 Now my predecessor, a former Republican president
00:32 tells Putin, quote, "Do whatever the hell you want."
00:35 That's a quote.
00:37 A former president actually said that bowing down
00:42 to a Russian leader, I think it's outrageous,
00:45 it's dangerous, and it's unacceptable.
00:48 We've made NATO stronger than ever.
00:50 Welcome Finland to the alliance last year.
00:53 [crowd cheers]
00:55 And just this morning, Sweden officially joined
00:59 and their minister is here tonight.
01:01 Come here, stand up.
01:02 [crowd cheers]
01:06 Welcome.
01:07 History is watching, just like history watched
01:11 three years ago on January 6th,
01:13 when insurrections stormed this very capital
01:16 and placed a dagger to the throat of American democracy.
01:19 Many of you are here on that darkest of days.
01:23 We all saw with our own eyes
01:25 the insurrectionists were not patriots.
01:28 They'd come to stop the peaceful transfer of power
01:31 to oversteer the will of the people.
01:33 January 6th lies about the 2020 election
01:37 and the plots to steal the election
01:39 posed a great, gravest threat to US democracy
01:43 since the Civil War.
01:45 But they failed.
01:46 The threat to democracy must be defended.
01:50 My predecessor and some of you here
01:52 seek to bury the truth about January 6th.
01:55 I will not do that.
01:58 This is the moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies.
02:01 Here's the simple truth.
02:03 You can't love your country only when you win.
02:07 [crowd cheers]
02:09 Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade
02:12 have no clue about the power of women,
02:14 but they found out when reproductive freedom
02:17 was on the ballot, we won in 2022 and 2020
02:20 and we'll win again in 2024.
02:23 In November, my team began serious negotiation
02:27 with a bipartisan group of senators.
02:28 The result was a bipartisan bill
02:32 with the toughest set of border security reforms
02:34 we've ever seen.
02:35 [crowd cheers]
02:36 Oh, you don't think so?
02:38 Oh, you don't like that bill, huh?
02:41 That conservatives got together and said it was a good bill?
02:46 I'll be darned, that's amazing.
02:49 That bipartisan bill would hire 1,500 more security agents
02:53 and officers, 100 more immigration judges
02:56 to help tackle the backload of two million cases,
02:59 4,300 more asylum officers and new policies
03:02 so they can resolve cases in six months
03:04 instead of six years now.
03:07 The United States and the leading international efforts
03:09 to get more humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
03:11 Tonight, I'm directing the US military
03:14 to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier
03:17 in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza
03:20 that can receive large shipments carrying food,
03:23 water, medicine, and temporary shelters.
03:26 No US boots will be on the ground.
03:29 A temporary pier will enable a massive increase
03:32 in the amount of humanitarian assistance
03:34 getting into Gaza every day.
03:35 [crowd applauds]
03:38 Israel must allow more aid into Gaza
03:42 to ensure humanitarian workers aren't caught in the crossfire.
03:46 They're announcing they're gonna have a crossing
03:50 in northern Gaza.
03:52 For the leadership of Israel, I say this.
03:55 Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration
03:59 or a bargaining chip.
04:01 Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.
04:04 As we look to the future, the only real solution
04:08 to the situation is a two-state solution over time.
04:11 [crowd applauds]
04:14 I know it may not look like it, but I've been around a while.
04:16 [crowd laughs]
04:19 When you get to be my age,
04:20 certain things become clearer than ever.
04:23 I know the American story.
04:26 Again and again, I've seen the contest
04:27 between competing forces
04:29 and the battle for the soul of our nation.
04:32 Between those who want to pull America back to the past
04:35 and those who want to move America into the future.
04:38 My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,
04:42 a future based on core values that have defined America --
04:46 honesty, decency, dignity, equality.
04:51 To respect everyone.
04:53 To give everyone a fair shot.
04:54 To give hate no safe harbor.
04:56 [crowd applauds]
04:58 Now, other people my age see it differently.
05:02 The American story of resentment,
05:05 revenge, and retribution, that's not me.
05:09 In my career, I've been told I was too young.
05:14 [crowd laughs]
05:15 By the way, they didn't let me on the Senate elevators
05:17 for votes sometimes.
05:19 Not a joke.
05:22 And I've been told I'm too old.
05:25 Whether young or old, I've always been known --
05:29 I've always known what endures.
05:31 I've known our North Star.
05:33 The very idea of America is that we're all created equal.
05:36 Deserves to be treated equally throughout our lives.
05:39 We've never fully lived up to that idea.
05:42 But we've never walked away from it, either.