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Biden Talks Taxing the Rich, Abortion Rights, Immigration Crackdown and Gaza in Election Year SOTU

HeadlineMar 08, 2024

President Biden delivered the State of the Union Thursday as he faces the likely prospect of an election rematch with Donald Trump in November and amid mounting public anger over his enabling of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Biden announced plans to tax the wealthy, vowed to restore federal abortion rights and touted his record on relaxing federal marijuana restrictions and punishments. But Biden also doubled down on his efforts to pass a hard-line border and immigration crackdown and repeated far-right Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene’s use of the term “illegal” after she heckled him during his speech over the death of a Georgia woman who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. Biden held up a pin handed to him by Taylor Greene with the killed woman’s name on it. Biden also addressed his age and welcomed Sweden as the newest member of NATO, following its formal entry into the military alliance earlier in the day. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson sat next to Jill Biden as one of her guests. President Biden also announced plans for a new port to deliver aid to Gaza.

President Joe Biden: “Tonight I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.”

As they watched on, progressive lawmakers Cori Bush, Summer Lee, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — the only Palestinian American in Congress — held up signs reading “Lasting Ceasefire Now” and “Stop Sending Bombs.” Tlaib, Lee and Bush also donned Palestinian keffiyehs. Separately, many Democratic women wore white in honor of the suffragists. We’ll have more on the State of the Union after headlines.

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