Biden addresses the country with a message of unity in his longest State of the Union speech yet

President Biden delivered his second State of the Union address earlier tonight before the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

His address was characterized by appeals to both sides of the aisle, beginning with his opening remarks towards Republicans in the House chamber.

“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there’s no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well,” Biden said. “Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. That’s always been my vision of our country and I know it’s many of yours.”

From job creation to lifting the debt ceiling, Biden touched on a number of topics during his 73-minute speech, but healthcare, policing, infrastructure and the economy took priority.

At one point, Biden accused Republicans of threatening Social Security and Medicare—an assertion met with pushback by outspoken GOP members. He also called on Congress to extend a $35 price cap on Insulin as well as to make premium savings on the Affordable Care Act health plans permanent.

While many remarks failed to muster a response from Republicans, Biden hoped that his Unity Agenda, a four-part plan highlighting areas where members of both parties could come together, would be able to reach across the aisle. These four issues included ending cancer, supporting veterans, tackling the mental health crisis and beating the opioid crisis.

Among the attendees were the family of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was killed by Memphis police officers in early January, and Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the gunman in the Monterey Park shooting.

RowVaugh and Rodney Wells, the parents of Nichols, were met with overwhelming applause as Biden touched on the shared values for public safety across the chamber.

“Just as every cop who pins on that badge in the morning has the right to be able to go home at night, so does everybody else out there,” Biden said. “What happened to Tyre in Memphis happens too often. We have to do better. Give law enforcement the real training they need. Hold on to higher standards. Help them succeed in keeping us safe.”

Biden wanted to remind listeners, “The story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never giving up.”

Since Biden has been in office he has created a record of 12 million new jobs and has signed over 200 bipartisan laws to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

Biden briefly touched on inflation and took a moment to recognize the decreasing gas and food prices, coupled with an increase in take home pay. The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act were passed to ensure the inflation rise the country saw does not happen again.

Biden stressed that to remain the strongest economy in the world, the nation’s infrastructure needs to be the best in the world. He said it has fallen from No. 1 to No. 13 worldwide.

“Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back, because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives,” Biden said.

As with any State of the Union address, Biden left the chamber on a hopeful note.

“Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong,” he said. “We are the United States of America and there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.”