President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address on Tuesday evening where he discussed his four part Unity Agenda. This focused on beating the opioid and overdose epidemic, ending cancer, prioritizing the mental health crisis; and reducing veteran suicide.

Article by Tessa Peloso, White House Reporter

WASHINGTON - President Biden discussed a slew of imperative topics in the House of Chamber on Tuesday evening. Many Republicans have shown clear distrust in the President, while even Democrats are not pleased with the thought of the President running for reelection.

President Biden reiterated that the goals that he has set in place are still not finished, while highlighting his accomplishments and positive progress he has made in his first two years of office.

He stated “finish the job” a total of 12 times throughout the evening. There were multiple instances where the President was heckled during his speech. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R) was shown trying to calm down his fellow Republican colleagues who were rebutting against when President Biden was speaking. 

The President acknowledged McCarthy in his speech by saying “Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation but I look forward to working together”. 

President Biden then went on to state that if him and his Republican colleagues can work together within the last year, they can work together in Congress.

Over the last year the President delivered his thoughts on his four-part agenda that “continues to make progress advancing his Unity Agenda and deliver results for families across the country”.

First being to end cancer, the second leading cause of death in America. Within the last year, the President and First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden have made the goal of cutting the U.S. cancer death rates by at least half in 25 years.This led to vast improvements within caregivers, families, and those fighting cancer. 

Second, supporting America’s Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. The President stated how important it is to take care of our nation’s military. His goal is to reduce the veteran suicide rate, increase outreach to veterans and expand legal support services.

This coinciding with tackling the mental health crisis within the U.S. Starting with creating more recovery and prevention programs. Encourging the workforce to support the mental health of working Americans, especially healthcare workers. “Studies have shown that burnout have reached crisis levels, affecting up to 54 percent of nurses and physicians”. 

The opioid epidemic throughout the country was another point of importance. This being, by cracking down on Fentanyl Trafficking and more efforts to save lives. “In just the last year Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seized a historic 260,000 pounds of illicit drugs primarily at ports of entry on our border, including nearly 15,000 pounds of fentanyl”. 

Also, to ensure that every prison and jail within the United States can provide treatment for drug abuse. This treatment has been proven to decrease overdoses, increase employment, and reduce crime.

President Biden was faced with some backlash due to the Chinese spy balloon. Which then led to the President discussing how clear it is that if China decides to threaten the U.S. our country will be protected. 

The President stands strongly on the fact that he could find some bipartisan support to counter China. 

The President hopes to mend the gap between him and Republican colleagues, and come together to fix the issues that Americans are concerned about.