Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday touted the nation’s economic health in his State of the Union Address, just days after a blockbuster jobs report showed a strong labor market has coincided with a monthslong easing of inflation.

Biden also proposed solutions for what he considers an ongoing economic ill: income and wealth inequality.

The wealth of the top 1% increased by $6.5 trillion in 2021, according to a study the Federal Reserve released last year. That wealthiest sliver of Americans controls 32% of the country’s wealth, the study found.

The Biden administration’s agenda includes two policy proposals: a new tax on billionaires and the sharp increase of a current tax on corporate stock buybacks.

“The idea is to have a commitment to reducing inequality,” Reuven Avi-Yonah, a law professor at the University of Michigan who focuses on corporate taxes, told ABC News. “There’s no indication that the increase in inequality is stopping anytime soon and something should be done about it, so the Democrats say.”

Here’s what to know about Biden’s tax proposals for wealthy individuals and corporations:

Billionaire’s tax

A key part of Biden’s new economic policy agenda is a billionaire’s tax, which would set a minimum tax for the wealthiest Americans, the White House said.

The Biden administration has offered scant details about the proposal, but it appears to closely resemble a policy that Biden put forward last March. At that time, he called for a tax rate of at least 20% on Americans who bring in at least $100 million per year.

The tax rate would apply both to income and unrealized gains, a measure of the value a person’s unsold investments have accumulated.

“President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or a billionaire,” the White House said in a statement Tuesday. “He also believes that it is wrong for America to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families.”

Between 2018 and 2020, the nation’s wealthiest 400 families paid an average tax rate of 8%, the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers found.

The wealthiest 25 people saw their worth increase a combined $401 billion between 2014 and 2018, but they paid an average federal income tax of 3.4% on that wealth, ProPublica found last year. By contrast, the median American making $70,000 a year pays an average federal income tax of 14%, the outlet said.

The proposal likely will face staunch Republican opposition, giving it a low probability of becoming law, since Republicans control the House of Representatives, Avi-Yonah of the University of Michigan said.

In response to previous efforts to tax wealthy Americans, Republicans have said the measures disincentivized business investment and wealth creation, hindering economic growth.

“The truth is it will not pass now with Republicans in control of the House,” Avi-Yonah said. “So it’s rhetoric.”

Increase to the tax on stock buybacks

In addition to the billionaire’s tax, Biden proposed a sharp increase of a current tax on corporate stock buybacks.

Companies opt to purchase shares of their own stock as a means of returning money to shareholders, since the move typically raises the price of shares.

The Biden administration takes issue with the practice because it provides money for shareholders while evading the taxes on income imposed when a company disperses money to shareholders through dividends, according to the White House. Instead, stock buybacks return money to investors as capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate.

“Stock buybacks enable corporations to funnel tax-advantaged payouts to wealthy and foreign investors,” the White House said Tuesday.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by Biden in August 2022, imposed a 1% tax on stock buybacks. If a company purchases $100 million worth of shares, for instance, it must pay $1 million in tax.

In his State of the Union Address, Biden proposed quadrupling that tax to 4%, the White House said.

As with the billionaire tax, the levy on stock buybacks is expected to face strong Republican opposition and long odds to become law.

Jesse Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School focused on corporate governance, said he opposes a tax on stock buybacks because the measures force companies to either hold onto excess capital or invest it in wasteful initiatives.

Instead, stock buybacks allow companies to return money to shareholders, who can then invest or spend the money, spurring economic activity, he said.

“You’re just going to have more cash bottled up in companies,” he said.

Avi-Yonah, meanwhile, said proponents of a higher tax on stock buybacks argue that the measure could pressure companies to invest money in initiatives with greater social benefit.

Supporters of the policy say companies “should be using money for other things like hiring people,” Avi-Yonah said. “Stock buybacks are regressive and benefit the rich at the expense of everyone else.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden delivers his second State of the Union address at 9 p.m. ET, marking a pivotal moment as he lays out not only his accomplishments and agenda, but makes the case for his leadership ahead of an expected announcement on whether he’ll run for reelection.

Unlike his first two years in office, Republicans now control the House of Representatives and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who will sit behind the president for the first time, has threatened to block Biden’s agenda.

ABC News will broadcast special coverage and stream the address on ABC News Live. Partners at FiveThirtyEight will provide analysis in the live blog below during Biden’s speech.

Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.

Feb 07, 4:00 PM EST
‘Finish the job,’ Biden expected to say

“Finish the job” will be a common refrain in the president’s State of the Union address, according to a White House official.

“This evening during the State of the Union, President Biden will speak directly to the American people and outline the historic progress we have made over the past two years and his agenda for the future,” the official said. “President Biden ran for office for three main reasons: to rebuild the backbone of the country, to unite the country and to restore the soul of the nation. In the State of the Union, he’ll say that we need to finish the job.”

This theme also plays into the groundwork that Biden is laying for a reelection bid.

Biden is also expected to specifically highlight the heroism of Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the Monterey Park shooter, and reference the parents of Tyre Nichols in the audience, as he calls for gun and policing reforms.

-ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce and Molly Nagle

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Amid national outrage after the release of the video showing the deadly beating of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police, Mona Hardin was reminded of the pain she felt after learning that her son Ronald Greene died after a struggle with Louisiana State Police in May 2019.

“My legs went out from under me,” Hardin said in an interview with ABC News, describing how she felt when she learned of her son’s death. “I felt that same weakness when I saw Tyre.”

“It was so gut wrenching … it was like seeing Ronnie all over and then seeing a lot of the other victims all over,” Hardin said.

Greene died in May 2019 after a struggle with Louisiana State Police officers following a high-speed chase near Monroe where Greene failed to stop for a traffic violation.

And now Hardin, along with other families of Black men who died after encounters with police, are bringing their call for police reform to the nation’s capital on Tuesday where they are set to attend President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address.

“There’s an ugliness and there’s a comfort at the same time because only these families know what’s in each other’s hearts,” Hardin said. “All these families know the excruciating, shattering pain. Our lives will never be the same. That is the common thread that binds all of us together.”

The White House announced on Tuesday that RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells – the mother and stepfather of Nichols – are set to attend Biden’s address as guests of First lady Jill Biden. Nichols died several days after a violent traffic stop on Jan. 7 captured in body camera and street surveillance footage, which shows officers repeatedly beating him. Five officers were fired and have been charged so far in connection with his death and a sixth police officer was also fired.

ABC News confirmed that Democratic lawmakers invited other family members of Black men who died after encounters with police, including Jayland Walker’s mother — Pamela Walker, Michael Brown’s father — Michael Brown, Sr., Eric Garner’s mother — Gwen Carr, and Amir Locke’s father, Andre Locke.

Hardin said when she got a call from Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana, inviting her to attend the State of the Union she was “stunned” and “elated” because she says for years her son’s case had been “dormant.”

Hardin worked to raise awareness about her son’s case for three and a half years before the Union Parish district attorney John Belton convened a grand jury to examine the case in November 2022, resulting in charges against five Louisiana police officers in December 2022 in connection with Greene’s arrest.

Trooper Kory York was charged with one count of negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance. Union Parish Deputy Christopher Harpin was charged with three counts of malfeasance. Trooper John Clary faces one count of malfeasance and one count of obstruction of justice, while former Troop Commander John Peters and trooper Dakota Demoss each face one count of obstruction of justice.

The attorneys representing York and Harpin told ABC News on Monday that their clients will plead not guilty during the arraignment hearing on Feb. 22.

ABC News has reached out to the attorneys of the three other officers but requests for comment were not returned.

The initial police report said Greene died due to a car crash. But in May 2021, two years after Greene’s death, Louisiana State Police released hours of body camera video that showed a violent struggle between Greene and police. State troopers are seen punching and using a stun gun on Greene after he crashed his car following a pursuit in northern Louisiana on May 10, 2019.

“What happened to Ronnie was a cover up,” Hardin said, vowing to continue her fight for justice.

An autopsy report by the Union Parish Coroner’s Office found blunt force injury to Greene’s head, neck and torso. The cause of death was listed as “cocaine-induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury and restraint.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are also investigating Greene’s deadly arrest. Meanwhile, Greene’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the troopers involved in the incident, as well as their supervisors.

The death of Nichols in January renewed calls for accountability and intensified a push for police reform as legislation stalls in Congress. The president, who met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the wake of Nichols’ death, is expected to address police reform as he urges lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which initially passed in the House in May 2021 but languished in the Senate.

Asked what she would like to hear from Biden, Hardin said, “please don’t look through me, look at me.”

“Look into my heart, see my pain. See the pain of all our families. Because if changes aren’t made, you’re looking right through us,” she added.

ABC News’ Amanda Su contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) — The Justice Department gave its approval this month for the United States Postal Service to deliver abortion drugs to states that have banned the procedure. Walgreens and CVS have applied for certification to provide the pills through their online pharmacies.

But attorneys general from 20 states with strict abortion bans have issued a stark warning to pharmacies that following through on mailing abortion pills would violate federal and some state laws.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote the letter. He spoke to ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis about why the attorneys general issued the warning and whether women who receive the medication could face prosecution:

DAVIS: Attorney General Bailey, we thank you so much for talking with us tonight. First, can you explain to us, the U.S. Justice Department has said that mailing these pills, which can have various of uses, that it does not violate federal law. Why do you and your fellow attorneys general believe that it does?

BAILEY: Well, it’s a flawed reading of the statute, and someone somewhere is going to hold the Biden administration and these unelected federal bureaucrats accountable, because shipping abortion drugs through the mail absolutely does violate the plain text of federal statute and state law here in Missouri. And so for us, this is about protecting the rule of law. It’s about protecting women and protecting children.

DAVIS: Why did you decide to spearhead this multistate warning to the pharmacies?

BAILEY: Well, at this point, the states are the vanguard in the fight against the rise of the unelected federal administrative state, and state attorneys general are the tip of the spear in that fight. And I’m proud to be leading this effort of 20 states, 20 like-minded attorneys general, who believe, like I do — that it’s worth standing up and saying no and fighting back in order to protect children and protect the health of women.

DAVIS: Some, including abortion opponents, have expressed concern that this could result in the prosecution of women who receive the medications via the mail. Is that your intent?

BAILEY: Certainly not. This is not about prosecuting women. It’s about protecting women’s health and protecting children and holding corporations accountable if they attempt to violate state and federal law.

DAVIS: So, what would happen? I mean, that would be the end result, right? If I happen to live in your state and I want to get this mail shipped to me and I get the mail shipped to me, then would you prosecute me?

BAILEY: No, the law doesn’t permit prosecution of women who obtain the drugs. The law is designed and intended to prevent the shipment of the drugs in the first place. And that’s what our letter’s all about. It’s directed towards the pharmacies who would ship the abortion drugs through the mail. Because I would also point out that these drugs are proven to be harmful. They’re harmful to the health of the children first and foremost, but they’re six times more likely to cause complications for women. And so, the health and safety of the women is codified in the prohibition of the shipment of these drugs. And the prohibition is against the pharmacies from doing it. And that’s why we’re standing up to protect the rule of law and enforce the laws as written.

DAVIS: So, I want to pick up on your idea there that it’s harmful. In your letter to the pharmacies, you specifically say the medication abortion is higher risk than other methods. The American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists consider the method to be safe and effective in terms of the women’s health and safety. What is your concern? Because you’re saying that it’s harmful. These doctors who specialize in abortions say that it’s not.

BAILEY: Well, the research runs counter to what they’re saying. But also, I would point out that the health and safety concerns, the health and safety of the women and children are codified in state and federal statute. The policy makers in government, our elected representatives, have spoken on this issue. And again, that’s why it’s about protecting the rule of law for us as much as it is about protecting the health and safety of women and children.

DAVIS: And I realize also, you’re saying you’re trying to protect the women and children. If the women have decided based on their own conversations with their doctors, that this is a safe alternative for them, then why not let them take the risk? I mean, risk comes with a lot of different kinds of medications, no?

BAILEY: Well, it’s a rule of law issue for us. And I think that, again, is expressed in our letter. And 19 other state attorneys general agree with that proposition, that we’ve got to stand up and enforce the laws as written. The plain text of the statute means something. And so unelected federal bureaucrats and the Biden administration don’t get to read out or read around the law by enacting and promulgating a rule that undermines the will of the people as expressed through their elected representatives. So, we’re going to fight to enforce the rule of law.

DAVIS: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, we thank you so much for your time and your insight.

BAILEY: Thank you, ma’am.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — For the roughly 750,000 people who live in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, embattled Rep. George Santos is more than the near-daily headlines he makes.

The freshman congressman, a Republican, sits at the center of controversy over his past falsehoods and embellishments and multiple ongoing investigations. (He’s denied wrongdoing.)

But he is also his district’s direct link to the federal government and its chief representative in national policymaking. As state Assemblymember Charles Lavine put it to ABC News, the scandals have severely curtailed Santos’ ability to advocate for his constituents, leaving him as “a congressional representative in name only” — who many residents would prefer to see out of office.

A Newsday/Siena College survey released last week of 653 voters in Santos’ district, conducted in late January, found that 78% said they want him to resign.

Santos has rebuffed calls to step down, saying it’s up to the voters to reelect him, or not, in 2024.

“They deserve somebody who’s going to come here and fight and not get involved with the media nonsense that we’re seeing take place,” Santos said in an interview on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast in January.

Last week, he temporarily recused himself from his two committee assignments — on the small business and science, space and technology panels — and told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott it was “in interest of the voters.”

“This [controversy] will not deter me … I will be effective. I will be good,” he told The New York Post in December.

But according to the new Newsday/Siena poll, 75% of polled constituents said they believe Santos will not in fact be able to be an effective representative, compared to 16% who said they believe he can. A group of constituents headed to Washington on Tuesday with a petition they said was signed by more than 1,000 people in the district who want Santos out of office.

ABC News spoke with more than a dozen residents or workers in Santos’ district to better understand their views on the congressman.

Santos’ office did not comment for this story.

‘Why are you there?’

Santos recently opened a constituent office in the Douglaston neighborhood of New York City. When ABC News visited the location over two days in late January, it lacked any Santos signage except for a taped piece of paper on the door and instead appeared to still be held by Santos’ predecessor, Tom Suozzi.

No constituents visited, though the office was up and running.

James Schnacker, an Army veteran who said he had been medically discharged, who now works as employee at an Oyster Bay, New York, hardware store, said he would not be confident approaching Santos’ office for services.

“You obviously can’t take his word,” Schnacker said.

State Assemblymember Lavine, a Democrat, said he has pledged to work with Santos to assist their shared constituents but still has serious concerns. Lavine gave an example of a hypothetical resident who may need help with their immigration status after overstaying a visa.

“I have no way of knowing whether Mr. Santos is going to report this person to immigration, who then may look for him to arrest that person,” Lavine said, describing Santos’ problem as a “crisis of trust.”

State Sen. Kevin Thomas, a Democrat who like Lavine shares constituents with Santos, said he intends to forward constituent issues to New York’s senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, though their offices typically take more time to respond.

“[Congressional district] three, the constituents there, will not have representation,” Thomas said.

Thomas shared similar worries as Lavine, given some of the fraud accusations Santos faces. Brazilian prosecutors said in January they were seeking to revive charges against him for allegedly paying for goods with a stolen checkbook when he was 19, and sources previously told ABC News that prosecutors in New York were looking at Santos’ financial filings, which show he became wealthy between 2020 and 2022.

Santos told The New York Post in December, “I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world.”

But Thomas said he was concerned: “How can I possibly send a kid who wants to go to the military academy … to a congressperson who has the reputation that he has?”

And if a local resident were to need help with a passport, a common issue for constituent offices, Thomas said he would hesitate to send them to Santos.

“Given his history … I would be afraid to send over a constituent giving their passport information over to that office,” he said.

Santos stepping down from his committees — which his office said last week would be temporary “until he has been properly cleared of both campaign and personal financial investigations” — also “handicaps” his ability to help his district because of how committees shape legislation and policy, Thomas said.

“You’re going to Congress, you’re not resigning and you’re not going to do the work that they’ve assigned you. Why are you there?” Thomas said.

Nancy Rosenblum, a former chair of Harvard University’s government department, agreed that Santos has low odds of achieving legislative success for his district: “He can’t participate. He doesn’t have the equipment to do it. He can’t negotiate. He knows nothing.”

On Monday, Santos made what appears to be his first major policy push as a lawmaker, speaking from the House floor to advocate for expanding the government’s World Trade Center Health Program to cover more conditions for people affected by 9/11 and its aftermath.

“I ask my colleagues that we work together and find a solution,” he said in a speech, which will now be one of his few major tools to spotlight issues.

Sept. 11 has become a personal point of controversy for Santos, who maintains that his mother survived the terror attacks and later died from the “toxic dust” that blanketed parts of New York City.

However, U.S. immigration records reviewed by ABC News indicate she wasn’t in the country at the time.

Locals see ‘broken’ system

A question in the Newsday/Siena polling indicates 77% of voters in Santos’ district see him as an example of a “broken” political system rather than an outlier.

Multiple residents who spoke with ABC News echoed that.

“I trust better racketeers than a politician,” said Angelo DiLorenzo, who works at a jewelry store in Manhasset, New York.

While none of the residents who spoke with ABC News on the record had positive impressions of Santos, the Newsday/Siena poll found that he has not been universally rejected: 18% of Republicans and 17% of independents said he shouldn’t step down; 25% of Republicans and 17% of independents said he can be effective in Congress; and 31% of those who voted for Santos said they still would have done so if they knew about the controversies over his life story.

Yascha Mounk, a Johns Hopkins University international affairs professor and writer on the successes and failures of democracies, told ABC News that Americans generally expect politicians to tell white lies.

“People have some tolerance for embellishment,” Mounk said, and Santos insists some of his past falsehoods were in the vein of padding his resume.

However, Mounk said that more significant lies — about substantive policy misrepresentations or biographical falsehoods — can have a more damaging effect, especially when other government officials let it slide.

“It’s less about the fact that there’s one guy who is a compulsive liar, who has managed to get away with it, when in fact this whole system lets him get away with it,” Mounk said.

Some locals also placed blame on the news media for not ferreting out problems with Santos’ background sooner.

“Where was any one of the media outlets, you know, doing an investigation into somebody new running for elected office?” said Scott Feigeles, a pharmacist at a Manhasset drug store.

Harvard professor Danielle Allen said Feigeles’ concerns were valid given the loss of vital local news outlets in many parts of the county.

“The fact that he was able to be elected with so many fraudulent claims is a real indicator of how weakened our news ecosystem is,” Allen said.

Democrat Robert Zimmerman, who lost to Santos in the fall, has said he has his own regrets. “Trust me: No one’s more frustrated than me,” he told The Washington Post. “There are a few times I shouted into my pillow: ‘Why didn’t this come out earlier?'”

Amid the cavalcade of revelations after Santos won, his constituents said they are left with a congressman far different from the one they knew in November.

Guy Finocchialo cast a ballot for Santos three months ago but now says, “If I could go back and change my vote, I probably would.”

Another constituent, Tom Andresakes, said he still thinks Santos should resign, however unrealistic that might be.

“I’m holding my breath for two years,” he said.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Aicha El Hammar Castano, Lalee Ibssa, Aaron Katersky and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday updated its use-of-force policy for when the 80,000 officers under the agency’s authority encounter the public.

The new guidelines limit the use of no-knock warrants, bar the use of chokeholds under unnecessary circumstances and beef up training for officers.

DHS has nine law enforcement agencies under its purview, including Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Secret Service.

“[Law enforcement officers] may use force only when no reasonably effective, safe and feasible alternative appears to exist and may only use the level of force that is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the LEO at the time force is applied,” according to a memo signed by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

It is the first update to the use-of-force guidelines since 2018, according to DHS who said they came to these policies with department leaders and national labor organizations.

The Department of Homeland Security said the update to the use of force policy has clear “standards” the policy sets forth “including prohibitions on the use of deadly force against a person whose actions are only a threat to themselves or property.”

“At the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, I announced the first Law Enforcement Coordination Council at DHS, designed to improve the ways we listen to and support our law enforcement agents and officers, the largest force in the federal government,” Mayorkas said. “Through the Council, law enforcement leaders from across the Department carefully crafted these updates to ensure we are living up to our values. Law enforcement agents and officers have profound responsibilities in their noble profession. We are grateful for the sacrifices they make every day and are confident that, working together, we can build safer and fairer processes to enforce our laws.”

DHS is limiting the use of no-knock warrants only to situations “where knocking would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the LEO or another person or only for evidence perseveration in national security matters.”

No-knock warrants have been the subject of scrutiny after the Louisville Police Department used one when entering the residence of of Brionna Taylor – fatally killing her.

Mayorkas also barred chokeholds from being used “unless deadly force is authorized.”

Additionally, the Department wants their agencies to collect data on use of force incidents to better study the issue.

DHS is also reshaping the training officers are going through, with an emphasis on de-escalation training, deadly force, duty to intervene and implicit bias training.

The law enforcement officers under DHS’ authority also include border agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol.

DHS offices and agencies will draft and issue updated individual Use of Force Policies that meet or exceed the requirements set forth in the updated Department-wide policy, according to DHS.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address comes at a pivotal moment as he lays out not only his accomplishments and agenda, but makes the case for his leadership ahead of an expected announcement about whether he’ll run for reelection.

Unlike his first two years in office, though, Republicans now control the House of Representatives, determined to block his priorities — and already forcing a high-stakes battle over spending cuts that could cause the nation to default on its debt.

If he does run again, the president — at 80, the oldest in the nation’s history — will have to persuade voters, expressing record economic discontent, that they would be better off with him when even many Democrats have their doubts.

Pushing bipartisanship amid acrimony

In his remarks — which he worked on with advisers over the weekend at Camp David, according to the White House — he’s expected to call on Republicans to work together with him, underscoring “the progress the American people want us to make by working together in the year ahead,” a White House official said.

His prime-time speech, though, comes as he faces constant antagonism from those same Republicans — including over his possible mishandling of classified documents, for which he is under investigation by a special counsel. The White House has deflected questions about why it has not been more transparent throughout the saga.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have also criticized the president’s handling of the suspected Chinese spy balloon the U.S. military shot down off the Atlantic coast Saturday; many GOP politicians have said the administration should have taken it out before it traversed the country.

Whereas Biden devoted nearly a fifth of his State of the Union speech last year to the days-old Russian invasion of Ukraine, his remarks this year will likely focus more on his legislative accomplishments — how the federal government is “investing in America,” as he has said during recent remarks.

Whereas he declared during his speech last year that the U.S. had “reached a new moment in the fight against COVID-19,” in recent months Biden has focused less and less of his public remarks on the coronavirus pandemic, with Americans — and the economy — largely moving on.

The president, the White House official said, “will highlight the progress we have already made — and will keep fighting to make — on these and other commitments and priorities, illustrating in real terms how transformational his pieces of legislation are for Americans across the country.”

It’s a calculated political move that comes just before he may launch his reelection effort.

The next two years of his presidency will not likely see the same degree of legislative accomplishments he enjoyed during the first two, with Republicans in the House determined to put roadblocks in the way.

Persuading Americans they’re better off

As the fruits of those laws only now just begin to become tangible for Americans — shovels breaking ground on infrastructure projects, the price of insulin dropping, taxes falling on clean technologies — Biden is hoping to take credit and boost his perennially low approval ratings.

“Next week, I’ll be reporting on the state of the union,” he said Friday, as he celebrated the surprisingly large number of jobs created in January. “But today — today, I’m happy to report that the state of the union and the state of our economy is strong.”

But it’ll be an uphill battle persuading Americans he has helped improve their personal finances.

In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, four in 10 Americans said they’ve gotten worse off financially since Biden became president — the most in nearly three dozen ABC/Post polls to ask the question since 1986. Just 16% said they were better off.

That said, Biden is helped by the way Americans view Republicans. In the same poll, the public took Biden’s side in the debt ceiling debate, with 65% backing his approach of handling debt payments and federal spending as separate issues; just 26% support that of the newly minted speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, who has threatened to let the U.S. default on its debt if the president does not agree to spending cuts.

Touting accomplishments as Americans don’t give credit

The economy is central to the president’s message — and Americans’ concerns about the future.

Biden aides argue the president has numerous monumental achievements to speak of — and that people are just now beginning to see the impact.

Biden has several positive indicators he can point to on Tuesday evening: High inflation is moderating, gas prices have fallen from their highs last year and the labor market remains strong.

In the past year, the president pushed through two significant pieces of legislation tackling his domestic priorities: a massive health, climate and tax bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act and a significant investment in semiconductor manufacturing, through the CHIPS and Science Act.

“On all three of the major pieces of legislation — on infrastructure, CHIPS and Science, and on the inflation Reduction Act, 2023 is the year in which the most significant impact will begin to occur,” Biden’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, told reporters Monday.

Biden has also celebrated other bills passed by Congress in the past year, including the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, and the Safer Communities Act, which included a number of gun reform measures.

But broadly speaking, Americans see it very differently, according to the recent ABC/Post poll.

Just 36% of Americans said they thought Biden had accomplished a great deal or good amount as president; 62% said he had accomplished not very much or nothing.

Nor did Biden get much credit for a disparate list of items he might raise in Tuesday’s address. Unemployment has dropped from 6.3% when Biden took office to 3.4% now — a low since 1969 — and the economy added a robust 517,000 jobs last month — yet the public, by 60-34%, said he has not made progress “creating more good jobs in your community.”

In an effort to combat that perception, Biden hit the road three times last week, highlighting his infrastructure law’s investments in major train tunnel projects in Baltimore and New York and in replacing lead pipes in Philadelphia.

He also renewed a push for Congress to enshrine paid family and medical leave into law; Republicans and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, prevented that from happening in 2021.

“I want to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs — what’s going on and what I’m looking forward to working on from this point on, what we’ve done,” Biden told reporters Monday. “And just have a conversation with the American people.”

While Biden’s pitching himself to Republicans, he also needs to make the case to Democrats.

In the ABC/Post poll, just 31% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the party should nominate Biden for reelection; 58% said it should pick someone else.

Will guns and policing reform take a backseat?

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how much of his speech Biden will devote to the issues of gun control and policing reform, two areas where Democrats have fallen short of reaching their lofty goals of reform.

Recent mass shootings in California and the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five police officers in Memphis have once again put pressure on Biden to use his bully pulpit to prioritize those issues.

Asked last week how much emphasis Biden would place on policing reform, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not say.

On Thursday, she told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce that Biden had “been working on his speech for some time” and that Americans could expect to hear from Biden about “how he is optimistic about the future of his country” and “the possibilities that we have as a country, especially as we look at our economy.”

McCarthy-Biden relationship to put bipartisanship push to the test

Like last year, Biden is expected to call for bipartisanship, underscoring “the progress the American people want us to make by working together in the year ahead,” the White House official said.

This year, the official said, “the president will once again amplify his belief that Democrats and Republicans can work together, as they did in the last two years and as he is committed to doing with this new Congress to get big things done on behalf of the American people.”

Tuesday’s address will mark the first time a Republican, McCarthy, will sit in a position of power on the dais behind the president while he speaks.

How Biden’s relationship with McCarthy develops in the coming months will put his desire for bipartisanship to the test.

The president and the speaker met in the Oval Office last week as Republicans threaten a catastrophic default if the White House does not agree to broad, unspecified spending cuts. Afterward, both men called their talks “good.”

While Ukraine dominated his speech last year, it is unlikely to play such a major role. The White House official did say, though, that Biden will “outline the progress made on maintaining international alliances to defend Ukraine, compete with China, and assert American leadership in the world.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders plans to deliver this year’s official Republican response to the State of the Union address. She will likely paint a picture of an economy that has struggled under Biden.

Sanders, formerly President Donald Trump’s press secretary, has also made “culture war” issues a focus of her governorship since taking office last month.

“Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the youngest governor in the nation and a powerful advocate for the popular, commonsense conservative principles that will put our country back on a better course,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement last week.

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(WASHINGTON) — When President Joe Biden delivers his second State of the Union on Tuesday, he’ll no doubt tout a list of what he considers his greatest accomplishments.

But that raises the question: What did he promise last year, and was he able to achieve what he laid out?

Among the top priorities he outlined last March were rallying American support for Ukraine in its effort to repel the Russian invasion and efforts to fight record-setting inflation.

Ultimately, he said, the State of the Union was strong “because you, the American people, are strong.”

Yet, a new ABC News/Washington Post shows just 36% of Americans think Biden has accomplished a great deal or good amount as president; 62% say he’s accomplished not very much or nothing at all.

And with Biden appearing poised to run for a second term — and looking to use this year’s speech to make his case — nearly six in 10 Democratic-aligned adults don’t want to see him nominated again — and his approval rating after two years in office is well below average compared with the previous 13 presidents. Only one, former President Donald Trump, has lower numbers.

Here are highlights of what Biden said last year and how things turned out:

War in Ukraine

Just six days before Biden’s first State of the Union address, Russia invaded Ukraine and he spent a large portion of his speech, not on usual domestic concerns, but condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Putin has unleashed violence and chaos — but while he may make gains on the battlefield, he will pay a continuing high price over the long run,” Biden vowed, receiving bipartisan applause.

Biden said the Justice Department was assembling a task force to go after the crimes of Russian oligarchs and that the U.S. would join allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights “further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” he said.

“Tonight, I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime no more,” he continued. “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts your luxury apartments your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

It’s a warning the U.S. delivered on. Week after week in the months to follow, the U.S. announced new sanctions on Russia, targeting banks and individuals including Putin’s adult daughters. As of last summer, the U.S. had frozen more than $30 billion of Russian oligarchs’ assets.

The U.S. has also committed more than $24.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine over the last year, but it has not sent American troops to the war — a promise Biden made and has, so far, kept.

“Let me be clear, our forces are not engaged and will not engage in conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine,” he said last year. “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies.”

While everyday Americans have appeared to rally around Ukraine’s people, Biden holds just a 38% approval on his handling of the war, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

US economy

Tempering expectations on the cost of war at home, Biden transitioned to the U.S. economy saying, “To all Americans, I will be honest with you, as I’ve always promised. A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world.”

Biden said his “top priority is getting prices under control.”

But one year later, according to new ABC News/Washington Post, four in 10 Americans say they’ve gotten worse off financially since Biden became president, the most in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years. Only 37% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy

Biden attempted to brace Americans for the war causing gas prices to go up, announcing the U.S. would release 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden later expanded that release to 180 million barrels — a move Republicans condemned as driven by politics.

“These steps will help blunt gas prices here at home. And I know the news about what’s happening can seem alarming. But I want you to know that we are going to be OK,” Biden said at the time.

But gas prices did continue to rise, peaking over the summer and concerning Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

Addressing inflation, Biden pitched his plan to cut costs by promoting some of the pillars of “Build Back Better” — capping prescription drugs, lowering energy costs, and instituting free, universal pre-K, among other initiatives — all without ever using the plan’s name.

“I have a better plan to fight inflation,” he said. “Lower your costs, not your wages.”

As the year went on, it wasn’t looking promising for Biden’s Build Back Better plan, but after a closely-guarded deal was made between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin over the summer, everything changed.

Democrats, with Republican support, passed the CHIPS and Science Act, aimed at countering China, just before Manchin joined his party to pass a stripped-down Build Back Better plan, newly-rebranded as the Inflation Reduction Act — in a major victory for Biden.

COVID pandemic

Congress dropped its mask mandate last year just one day ahead of Biden’s optimistic address, so the president notably spoke before a crowded and mostly mask-free chamber.

“Because of the progress we’ve made, because of your resilience and the tools we have, tonight I can say we are moving forward safely, back to more normal routines,” Biden said. “We’ve reached a new moment in the fight against COVID-19, with severe cases down to a level not seen since last July.”

But it’s dangerous to predict the unpredictable, and COVID deaths went on to peak for the year over the summer as cases increased with the more transmissible Omicron variant.

More than 267,000 people died of COVID last year, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with the disease continuing to be a leading cause of death in the U.S., despite Americans moving away from mitigation measures.

This year’s address comes as the Biden administration has confirmed it will end both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11. The current public health emergency is in place through April, while the national emergency is in place until March.

“I know some are talking about ‘living with COVID-19.’ Tonight, I say that we will never just accept living with COVID-19,” Biden said last year.

Lawmakers were required last year to have a negative COVID test to enter the chamber. Several Republicans boycotted the speech by refusing to test — and in a sign the virus was still virulent at least four positive cases turned up afterward.

Gun violence and policing

Biden took a moment last year to talk about policing too, prompting Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans to stand up and applaud.

“We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. The answer is to FUND the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities,” Biden said.

He then briefly called on Congress to pass gun-safety legislation, saying the laws wouldn’t infringe on the Second Amendment but “save lives.”

“I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence. Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on a terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon? Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he said. “Repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can’t be sued.”

Congress did, in May, pass gun safety legislation following mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, though the legislation fell far short of what he asked.

As the administration continues to call on lawmakers to renew the long-expired ban on assault weapons, the public appears more divided on the question: 47% support such a ban, and 51% oppose it, according to the latest ABC/Post poll. That reflects a nine-point drop in support since 2019, despite recent gun violence.

While it’s unclear how the president will address gun violence and policing in this year’s address, in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ beating and death, it’s clear that compromise on gun violence and policing legislation is increasingly rare.

Infrastructure

Biden took a victory lap last year in touting the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which he’s hailed as landmark to his presidency.

“Now our infrastructure is ranked 13th in the world. We won’t be able to compete for the jobs of the 21st century if we don’t fix that,” he said. “That’s why it was so important to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — the most sweeping investment to rebuild America in history.”

He said the U.S. was “done talking about infrastructure weeks” and moving forward to “have an infrastructure decade.”

Biden spent the week ahead of this year’s address by touting his infrastructure agenda around the country, a tour he plans to continue later this week as money from the legislation starts to flow and projects can be started.

‘Unity agenda’

Near the end of his address, Biden ticked through broad ideas with bipartisan support in proposing “a unity agenda for the nation.”

Beating the opioid epidemic, focusing on mental health in children, supporting U.S. veterans, and ending “cancer as we know it,” he said, were the pillars of the unity agenda.

While those initiatives earned applause on both sides of the chamber, they’re longstanding, long-term issues without a clear end-game established.

In terms of unity in Washington, Biden will address a newly-empowered Republican House majority for the first time on Tuesday, and while Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed to block Biden’s agenda, the two appeared to have a cordial meeting at the White House last week.

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(WASHINGTON) — When President Joe Biden delivers his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, two guests are expected to be in the audience: the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols.

Nichols died after being beaten during a violent encounter with Memphis police last month. His death has sparked calls for police reform at the federal level. His parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, will sit in the first lady’s box on Tuesday.

RowVaugh made a tearful plea for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act at his funeral last week.

“We need to get that bill passed, because if we don’t, that blood, that next child that dies — that blood is going to be on their hands,” she said.

It’s a topic Biden is likely to address as he speaks to lawmakers and the nation in what could be his largest audience of the year. But how far he’ll will go in calling for reform, and how far his comments will go in a divided Congress, remains to be seen.

“Criminal justice reform and fears about racism have been top issue concerns for Black Americans and Black voters for several cycles,” Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist and former Hillary Clinton adviser, told ABC News.

“I think given that Tyre Nichols’ parents will be in the audience, we should expect that the president will talk about that,” Finney added.

Biden said he was “outraged and deeply pained” when graphic footage of Nichols’ fatal confrontation with police was released last month showing officers striking and kicking Nichols. He’s called on Congress to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing reform bill to his desk, and met last week with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss possible paths forward.

Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks delivered at Nichols’ funeral, said the beating of the 29-year-old Nichols was “not in pursuit of public safety.”

“When we talk about public safety, let us understand what it means in its truest form,” the vice president said. “Tyre Nichols should have been safe.”

The country’s confidence in police practices have hit new lows, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. Just 39% of Americans expressed confidence that the police are trained to avoid excessive force, and 41% were confident the police treat Black and white people equally.

“People are going to be listening very closely for what’s the vision for what public safety and reforms look like,” Finney said of Biden’s speech, “because it’s got to go hand in hand.”

What police reform advocates want Biden to address

“I sincerely hope he doesn’t double down on throwing more police at the problem because the calculus of that would be very wrong,” Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told ABC News ahead of the State of the Union address.

Last year, Biden, as part of his administration’s crime prevention proposal, called for nearly $13 billion to hire 100,000 police officers around the country over the next five years.

Hewitt said he hopes to hear Biden call for comprehensive legislation, noting the odds of passing a police reform package may be slim but “that doesn’t mean that any member of Congress, regardless of party affiliation, should be let off the hook.”

The George Floyd policing bill passed the Democrat-controlled House in 2020 and 2021 but stalled in the Senate. It now faces bigger hurdles now that the House is controlled by a Republican majority.

Rashad Robinson, the president of civil rights advocacy group Color of Change, told ABC News he wants to see Biden talk about the need to end qualified immunity, create a database of police misconduct, more power to the Department of Justice for policy and practices, and more policies.

But he also said it’s even more important for the president to use the national address to speak more directly to the American people to inspire them to get more organized around police reform.

“People don’t remember all of the list of demands, or the things that the president wants on his desk,” Robinson said. “But it is an opportunity to tell a story … He needs to tell a story about why we haven’t actually gotten change, and who is standing in the way.”

“It’s something that I think is going to be necessary to actually build the momentum to win something real,” he said.

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(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — In the latest development in Florida’s conflict with Walt Disney World, a bill filed Monday during the state’s special legislative session would give Gov. Ron DeSantis the ability to appoint a board to run Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District — the small, autonomous region that encompasses the company’s theme parks outside Orlando.

Those selected by the governor for the oversight board would then go through confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Currently, Disney elects the members because it owns the district, essentially allowing the company to govern the region around its businesses.

According to the 189-page bill, none of the appointees to the oversight board could be recent Disney employees or have had a contractual relationship with a theme park within the past three years.

Another change that would be enacted would be the name of the district. The bill would rename it the “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.”

The proposal follows a law passed by the state legislature last year to eliminate the current district, which has granted Disney expansive authority over the carved-out area around its parks.

Instead of eliminating the district, the new bill gives the governor authority over who runs it.

The changes all come after Disney publicly criticized a controversial DeSantis-backed law banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in certain K-12 classrooms.

The Parental Rights in Education Law has been dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay,” while its supporters say it ensures age-inappropriate topics are kept out of class.

Disney, citing concerns of discrimination, has said it “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” (The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.)

DeSantis’ office insisted on Monday that the changes to the district were an effort to ensure corporate accountability.

“Florida is dissolving the Corporate Kingdom and beginning a new era of accountability and transparency,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in a statement.

Griffin explained that the proposed government oversight of the special district would allow imposing taxes on Disney for possible road projects outside the district’s boundaries and imposing Florida law on the area.

The legislation would also keep the district’s current financial obligations in place, including outstanding debts, staying in line with DeSantis’ promise that neighboring Orange and Osceola counties would not be responsible for the district’s $1 billion debt despite the legal changes.

Disney said in a statement on Monday that they were watching the “the progression of the draft legislation, which is complex given the long history of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”

“Disney works under a number of different models and jurisdictions around the world, and regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to providing the highest quality experience for the millions of guests who visit each year,” said Jeff Vahle, the president of Walt Disney World Resort.

With Republicans having control of both chambers of the state legislature, the bill is likely to be considered quickly before being approved and sent to DeSantis to become law.

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