The State of the Union was loud during Biden’s election speech
The state of the union as President Biden appeared before a divided Congress on Thursday evening was vociferous.
Mr. Biden gave a spirited, shouty, confrontational speech. Republicans cheered when he challenged them on immigration and economic issues, and he seemed to appreciate and even encourage the unwritten lines as he delivered his formal address on Capitol Hill.
Democrats cheered loudly and often in support of his policies, giving the impression of a party fully behind — and even enthusiastic about — the aging presidential candidate. The only glimpse of Democratic dissent came from a few progressives who sat stone-faced during parts of the speech and held up signs demanding a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
It all unfolded when former Representative George Santos of New York, the serial fabulist who was expelled from Congress by his own colleagues in December, made a splashy return to the House floor that just months ago he had vowed never more to visit, dressed in a crystal. -laid collar and sparkling shoes. During Mr. Biden’s speech, Mr. Santos even made his own news, announcing on social media that he planned to run for Congress again, this time from New York’s First Congressional District.
In short, it was a raucous evening for a typically sedate Washington tradition.
Speaker Mike Johnson, delivering his first State of the Union address since his unlikely elevation last fall, seemed unable to decide what to do with his face, alternately pursing his lips, smiling, frowning, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head mournfully as the president spoke.
Some Republicans sat in the audience, watching and pretending they were attending a rally for former President Donald J. Trump instead of a joint session of Congress. Rep. Troy Nehls, the Texas Republican who floated the idea of electing Mr. Trump as chairman earlier this year, arrived wearing a T-shirt bearing Mr. Trump’s mugshot.
As he made his way to the stage, Mr. Biden gasped and appeared surprised by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Republican from Georgia, who had dressed herself up as a one-woman political protest. She wore a red “Make America Great Again” cap and a T-shirt bearing the name of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan migrant, a horror story that Republicans have used as a cudgel against Mr. have used. Biden.
“It’s about Laken Riley!” she later shouted from her seat during the portion of Mr. Biden’s speech devoted to the U.S. border with Mexico, in which Mr. Biden blamed his “predecessor” (as he referred to Mr. Trump all night) for undermining of a bipartisan border security bill.
Seeing her moment, Ms. Greene interrupted the President to call the suspect in Ms. Riley’s murder an “illegal.” Authorities have charged a Venezuelan migrant who entered the United States illegally and was subsequently released on parole. “Say her name!” shouted Mrs. Greene.
In response, Mr. Biden did indeed say her name, albeit messing up the pronunciation so it sounded more like “Lincoln Riley.” The president called her “an innocent young woman who was murdered by an illegal alien – that’s true.”
“But how many thousands of people are being killed by the legislature?” he said.
(For years, studies have found that undocumented immigrants have much lower crime rates than U.S.-born citizens and legal immigrants for a variety of crimes, including violent crimes, drug crimes, and property crimes.)
He added: “To her parents I say: my heart goes out to you. Lost children myself. I understand.”
The president’s derogatory use of the term “illegal” immediately drew resistance from progressives. “No human being is illegal,” Rep. Delia Ramirez, Democrat of Illinois, posted on social media shortly after speaking.
Still, the jousting with Republican critics seemed to energize Mr. Biden and the Democrats sitting in the audience.
From their chants of “four more years!” as Mr. Biden entered the room to constant exclamations of “that’s right!” punctuating his speech, Democrats quickly rose to their feet for applause and cheered wildly for their party’s leader.
There were a few exceptions. Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Cori Bush of Missouri and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts held up signs reading “lasting ceasefire now” and “stop sending bombs” as Mr. Biden discussed the war in Israel.
“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” he said. “Thousands and thousands of innocents, women and children. Girls and boys have also been orphaned. Nearly two million additional Palestinians are being bombed or displaced.”
As Mr. Biden tapped through the rubble in Gaza, Ms. Tlaib, the only Palestine-born member of Congress, wiped tears from her eyes and was comforted by her colleagues.
Across the room, Mr. Santos was greeted more warmly than ever before as a member of Congress, when his colleagues wanted nothing to do with him. Before the speech, he sat and chuckled with Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida. Even members who had publicly criticized him in the past, such as Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, stopped to take his photo, while others lined up to greet him.
It was fair to say that Mr. Santos, who is due in court in September on federal fraud charges, including allegations of stealing money from campaign donors for personal expenses, was in court.
He appeared to stake out a chair near the hallway where Mr. Biden would enter the room, positioning himself close enough to extend a presidential handshake. But minutes before Mr. Biden entered, with no seat available, Mr. Santos moved back and out of view.
It was Mr. Biden who stayed in sight until the bitter end. Long after he finished speaking, and after most of the lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices had left the room, the president closed the room and hung around with a few stragglers to shake hands and chat for nearly 30 more minutes.
“You set us all on fire!” Representative Danny K. Davis, Democrat of Illinois, told him.