Shaheen Statement on President Biden’s State of the Union Address
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), issued the following statement after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address tonight:
“At this year’s State of the Union, President Biden reminded the American people of the historic progress we have made throughout the first three years of his presidency, who we are as a nation and our shared responsibility to defend democracy and freedom around the world. Under President Biden’s leadership, the economy has rebounded from the pandemic, resulting in 14.8 million jobs—including tens of thousands of jobs in New Hampshire. The unemployment rate is below four percent. Wages have gone up while inflation has gone down. We’ve built new roads and bridges, upgraded our drinking water systems and are delivering more broadband access to rural communities.
“Despite these strong numbers, too many families—including Granite Staters—are not feeling the positive impact on their pocketbooks. There’s more work we need to do to lower costs for working families and continue uplifting the middle class. It’s time we lower the cost of insulin to $35 a month for all Americans, continue reducing prescription drugs costs, take steps to address the child care crisis that too many working families and small businesses face and tackle the affordable housing shortage plaguing our country.
“We also heard the President’s vision for American leadership across the globe. Right now, our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if the United States will continue to stand by our word and fight for the principles we have championed since our founding. As the President highlighted, extremist Republicans walked away from a hard-fought, long negotiated bipartisan national security deal that would have delivered crucial aid to our allies and partners, like Ukraine, along with securing the border and helping curb the flow of fentanyl into our country—an issue that has impacted communities across our entire country, the Granite State included. Additionally, I was pleased to hear the President lay out plans to build a temporary port to get desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“In the wake of draconian decisions across the country that are gutting a woman’s right to full reproductive health care, I was glad to see President Biden remind the American people, once again, that Democrats will always stand up for a woman’s right to choose. If, how and when a woman starts a family is not a decision for judges or elected officials to make, and Democrats across the country will continue to stand up for reproductive freedom.
“The President was clear: our work here is not done. We can come together and build on the progress we have made over the past three years—and we can do so in a bipartisan manner. I look forward to continuing the work and delivering for Granite Staters and the American people.”
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