Congressional Democrats praise Biden after State of the Union address

Democratic members of Congress were pleased with President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., told theGrio that the president did a good job of highlighting his victories.

“In his first term he has added 15 million new jobs, 20 more million people have joined Obamacare and he’s brought down inflation,” Ivey said.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., told theGrio that he believed Biden gave a “strong” speech.

The New York lawmaker was pleased that Biden spoke about “women’s rights, education, and I thought it was very aspirational.”

“It made me think of the first two years I was here when Democrats had control of the House, the Senate and the White House and how we got so much done,” Bowman added.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., said the president was “incredibly witty, knowledgeable and unapologetic.”

“For someone everyone wants to consider very old he had some very sharp and fresh ideas about what we need to do,” she said.

On Thursday, Biden delivered the annual speech presidents make at the Capitol to a joint session of Congress and he highlighted his efforts to combat climate change, protect Americans from the misuse of artificial intelligence, raise the minimum wage and stop the banning of books.

“Instead of erasing history, let’s make history,” the president said.

“Stop denying another core value of America [which is] our diversity across American life,” he added.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., told theGrio he was happy that the president focused his attention on “the American people and all that they have done to have this incredible comeback from the pandemic and downturn of our economy.”

The Congressional Black Caucus chairman was also pleased that Biden addressed the housing crisis.

“He focused on the need to tackle housing affordability and homeownership, which is essential to building wealth and closing the racial wealth gap,” said Horsford.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., told theGrio that he was “ecstatic” that the president spoke about immigration.

“He talked about the historic aspect of everyone, whether they came here on a slave ship or whether they came looking for opportunity through the Statute of Liberty,” he said.

“He refuses to degrade immigrants,” Meeks added. “He refuses to say that immigrants are poisoning the blood of who we are in the United States.”

While Biden was talking about immigration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. interrupted his speech to shout “say her name” in reference to Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, who was killed last month while jogging on campus.

The suspect in the case is a Venezuelan migrant who is reportedly undocumented.

During the speech, Biden addressed Riley’s family and said, “My heart goes out to you, having lost children myself. I understand.”

However, that was not enough for Greene, who took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to blast Biden, writing that his “policies killed Laken Riley.”

“He finally tried to say her name, but couldn’t even say it correctly,” she added. “It’s an absolute disgrace.”

Ivey told theGrio, “There’s people I’ve been able to work with and they’re sort of reasonable people, but they’re letting people like Marjorie Taylor Greene…drive the party and keep it from doing positive, reasonable things.”

Horsford called Greene “immature” and “irresponsible.”

“She’s not serious,” he told theGrio.

“She’s more focused on getting attention,” Horsford continued.

Bowman told theGrio that Greene’s actions should be “ignored.”

“She’s a caricature,” Bowman said.

During the speech, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., took to X to call out Greene for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.

He tweeted, that Greene is “in direct violation of the rules of the House by wearing campaign insignia on the House floor.”

Horsford told theGrio that Congress’ sergeant at arms “should have made her remove her campaign hat… we’ll take that up with them later.”

In a surprise move, former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was expelled from Congress, attended the State of the Union speech.

Ahead of the address, Santos took to X to announce that he would be running against Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., in the 2024 primary election.

Bowman told theGrio that Santos “is going to get destroyed.”

Many members of Congress had hoped that Biden would address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza during his speech.

Ahead of the address, Bowman, as well as Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Lee Summer, D-Pa., told theGrio, that Biden needed to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

Following Biden’s speech, Bowman told theGrio that although Biden was critical of Israel, “I wanted to hear more about the starving children.”

“To me, that’s the most horrific thing to watch happen, children starving to death,” he added. “We need an immediate cease-fire now…to stop the starvation now.”

Since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct. 7, Palestinians have faced a hunger crisis and many children in Gaza are dying from starvation. The United Nations blames Israel for “intentionally starving the Palestinian people.”

Toward the end of Biden’s speech, Democratic congressional members repeatedly chanted “Four more years!” while giving the president a standing ovation.

Horsford told theGrio the president expressed a “clear contrast of those of us who want to move our country forward versus those who want to take it back.

 “That’s the option that the American people have in November,” he added.

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