Biden's 2022 State of the Union: Ukraine, Inflation and a Unity Agenda

Joe Biden delivered his first official State of the Union address on March 1, 2022, five days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Consumer prices were rising at the fastest pace in four decades. He opened with Ukraine, turned to inflation and his economic agenda, and closed with a bipartisan “Unity Agenda.” The speech is also remembered for a slip of the tongue, when he said “Iranian people” instead of “Ukrainian people,” and for a Republican congresswoman’s outburst during his remarks about his late son. Quotes are from the White House text of the speech [1], which shows the remarks as prepared, so ad-libs such as the “Iranian” slip do not appear in it.

Key Moments

Ukraine: “Putin was wrong”

Biden began with the invasion: “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated.” He described the sanctions coalition, cutting Russia’s central bank off from its “$630 Billion ‘war fund,’” warned “the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders” that a Justice Department task force was coming after their assets, and announced that the United States would close its airspace to all Russian flights. He also recognized Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, who was in the chamber.

The “Iranian people” slip

Delivering the line “Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people,” Biden said “Iranian people” instead. CNN’s annotated transcript notes the prepared text read “Ukrainian,” and Fox News reported that Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to mouth the correction behind him [2][3]. The White House’s posted video and text quoted him as saying “Ukrainian” [3].

Inflation: “I get it”

On prices, Biden said: “Inflation is robbing them of the gains they might otherwise feel. I get it. That’s why my top priority is getting prices under control.” His plan leaned on making more in America (“We are going to Buy American”), lowering costs for child care, prescription drugs and energy, and a $20 billion Intel semiconductor “mega site” in Ohio, whose chief executive was in the chamber. He also announced that the United States would release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a 60-million-barrel release with allies.

Taxes and “fund the police”

Biden repeated his tax pledge, “nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in new taxes,” and proposed “a 15% minimum tax rate for corporations,” noting that 55 Fortune 500 companies had paid no federal income tax the year before. On crime, he distanced himself from his party’s left: “The answer is not to Defund the police. The answer is to FUND the police.” He also highlighted his nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, named four days earlier.

The Unity Agenda and an outburst

He closed with “four big things we can do together”: beat the opioid epidemic, take on mental health, support veterans and “end cancer as we know it.” On veterans, he spoke about burn pits and about his son Beau, who died of brain cancer after serving in Iraq. As he described troops coming home in “a flag-draped coffin,” Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado shouted, “You put them in, 13 of them,” a reference to the 13 service members killed at the Kabul airport in August 2021. The chamber booed [4]. He ended: “The State of the Union is strong — because you, the American people, are strong.”

Fact Check

FactCheck.org reviewed the speech [5]:

“Over 6.5 Million new jobs just last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before.” True in raw numbers, but not as a share of the workforce: job growth was faster in percentage terms in several earlier years, including 1978 and 1979 under Jimmy Carter. Employment was still about 2.9 million below its pre-pandemic peak.
“The only president ever to cut the deficit by more than one trillion dollars in a single year.” Premature. The fiscal year was not over, the deficit was falling from a pandemic record of $3.1 trillion, and most of the drop came from rising revenue, not spending cuts.
The 2017 tax cut “benefitted the top 1% of Americans.” Misleading. People in every income group got a tax cut at first. The top 1% will get most of the benefit only if other provisions expire as scheduled.
The oil release “will help blunt gas prices.” It did not hold prices down. Oil kept rising, with Brent crude reaching $110 a barrel, and analysts called the release too small to matter.
Burn pits and cancer. The link is not established. National Academies reviews found insufficient evidence tying burn pit exposure to cancer, although the VA was moving to presume some connections.

What Happened Next

Inflation kept climbing for months: consumer prices rose 9.1% in the 12 months to June 2022, the largest increase since 1981 [6].
The Supreme Court: The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson on April 7, 2022, by 53–47, making her the first Black woman on the court [7].
The Unity Agenda: Congress passed the PACT Act, expanding health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins; Biden signed it on August 10, 2022 [8]. A day earlier he signed the CHIPS and Science Act, with about $53 billion for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research [9].
Taxes: The Inflation Reduction Act, signed August 16, 2022, enacted a 15% minimum tax on corporations earning more than $1 billion [10].