What Is the True State of the Union?

            President Joe Biden gave his first official State of the Union speech tonight. He addressed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation at home, an ongoing border crisis, and a fading COVID-19 pandemic. His speech was fact-checked by Fred Lucas, Jarrett Stepman,Douglas Blair, and Virginia Allen at The Daily Signal. 

‘We Were Ready’ for Putin’s Invasion

Biden addressed the biggest issue in international politics – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unfolding invasion of Ukraine, and the response from the United States and its allies….

He noted that the United States is a member of the 30-nation NATO military alliance.

“It matters. American diplomacy matters,” Biden said. “Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”

How ready the Biden administration and allies were, however, is open to debate.

Russian troops have massed on the Ukrainian border since November. Ukrainian President Vologymyr Zelenskyy urged Biden to impose sanctions on Russia before an invasion could occur, as a preventive measure.

The Biden administration and European allies imposed sanctions on Russian financing a day after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine….

State of the Economy, Job Market

Biden didn’t shy away from touting his accomplishments on the economy and job market as the nation began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In fact – our economy created over 6.5 Million new jobs just last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of America….”

The U.S. economy indeed added about 6.5 million jobs in the year that Biden has been president, the largest increase for a president in his first year in office.

However, this increase came in the wake of a wide-scale shutdown of the American economy during the pandemic. The total number of jobs is far below what it was under Trump in 2020, when the U.S. lost 9.5 million jobs.

Worse, the U.S. currently faces a serious labor shortage, with a near-record 11 million job openings….

Future of Manufacturing Jobs

“All told, we created 369,000 new manufacturing jobs in America just last year,” Biden said.

The president said he brought back manufacturing jobs to America. He said Ford and General Motors had created 11,000 and 4,000 jobs, respectively, saying it was evidence that manufacturing is returning.

But according to Heritage Foundation scholars, backed with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 179,000 more Americans were employed in manufacturing in 2021 than the previous year….

American Rescue Plan vs. 2017 Tax Cuts

Biden touted the American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill he crafted with congressional Democrats.

“And unlike the $2 trillion tax cut passed in the previous administration that benefitted the top 1% of Americans, the American Rescue Plan helped working people – and left no one behind,” he said.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, supported by then-President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, benefited all working Americans and not just the top 1%, many analysts say….

Assessing the Tax Burden

“Under my plan, nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in new taxes. Nobody,” Biden said.

This is incorrect.

Biden’s failed Build Back Better plan, which passed in the House of Representatives but met defeat in the Senate, would have increased taxes directly and indirectly for Americans who make less than $400,000 a year, analysts said.

The left-leaning Tax Policy Center noted that Biden’s plan would increase taxes on middle-income Americans….

            In addition to the above facts, the authored also fact checked several other topics in Biden’s speech: ‘Lower Your Costs and Lower the Deficit,” Fiscal Responsibility, Rising Energy Costs, ‘Suppress’ and ‘Subvert’ the Vote, and LGBTQ Rights and Equality Act. I may  write about those topics tomorrow night.