2024 State of the Union | Highlights and key moments

President Biden’s performance and quick reactions to Republican heckling received a warm reception from Democratic colleagues who wanted the American public to see the “energetic” leader they say they interact with behind the scenes. Rep. Pramila Jayapal had discussed earlier Thursday that Biden’s performance and delivery would be closely watched by many in the party and base who may be privately concerned about his age and abilities.

“I just thought his energy was great. His delivery was great. He was fiery and in the end, he reminded us again about what’s important in America, what’s important to us as Democrats,” the Washington lawmaker said. “I think it was really a win.”

Biden’s use of the word “illegals” to describe migrants rubbed a number of progressive Democrats the wrong way.

Biden said, “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many of thousands of people have been killed by illegals?”

He was referring to Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed in Georgia. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally has been arrested and charged with murder.

That word “illegals” has long been verboten by Democrats. When Biden took office, he referred to migrants in the U.S. illegally as “noncitizens.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that while there was large parts of his address that she appreciated, she was disappointed in that moment.

“I wish he hadn’t engaged with Marjorie Taylor Greene and used the word illegal,” the Washington Democrat told AP immediately after the speech.

Her fellow progressive colleague, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., echoed her sentiments, saying that she had never heard the president use that word before. “Just like we should not be implementing Republican policy, we should not be repeating Republican rhetoric,” Pressley said.

Many studies have found immigrants are less drawn to violent crime than native-born citizens. One published by the National Academy of Sciences, based on Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012 to 2018, reported native-born U.S. residents were more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than people in the country illegally.

Biden lingered long after the speech in the House chamber, chatting and taking photos with lawmakers. Finally, the lights dimmed, and it was time to go.

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Alabama Sen. Katie Britt is imploring Biden to “end this crisis” on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the GOP response, Britt noted that the president mentioned slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley during his speech. Biden drew criticism from some in his own party by noting that Riley was killed ban an “illegal” immigrant. But Britt said that wasn’t enough.

“Innocent Americans are dying, and you only have yourself to blame,” Britt said, addressing the president directly. She added of the border, “End this crisis and stop the suffering.”

The senator went on to call Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” and argued that he was failing the free world.

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt is delivering the Republican response to Biden’s speech from her family’s kitchen — and leaning into one of the president’s favorite metaphors.

Biden often talks about the kitchen table as he seeks to connect with families. Britt countered that Biden “just doesn’t get it.”

“Under his administration. Families are worse off,” Britt said. She further criticized Biden, saying that families around the country were gathering at kitchen tables like hers, looking for ways to cope with a country he’s put on the wrong track.

Many voting and racial justice activists praised Biden’s invocation of the late John Lewis in his vows to protect democracy and combat voter suppression, gerrymandering and “election subversion” in his remarks. The president, who spoke on the 59th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” criticized “forces taking us back in time” in his remarks as he connected his policies to the Civil Rights movement.

“I think he’s on fire,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, a voting rights group. She called Biden’s call for the passing of the Voting Rights Act “fantastic.”

“I thought he delivered a powerful state of the union and did not back down about what he stands for. Joe Biden the fighter showed up tonight,” said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

Immigration advocates and at least one member of Congress expressed frustration that Biden referred the person arrested in the killing of University of Georgia student Laken Riley as “an illegal.”

Immigration officials say the man charged in Riley’s death entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela and was allowed to stay.

“Disappointed that (Biden) would use such dehumanizing right wing rhetoric to speak about immigrants tonight,” Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., wrote on social media. “No human being is illegal.”

Trump offered his own live commentary and criticism, blasting Biden’s policies and delivery — “THIS IS LIKE A SHOUTING MATCH,” he said — while defending his own record.

“Whether the Fake News Media likes admitting it or not, there was tremendous misrepresentation and lies in that Speech, but the People of our Country get it, and they know that November 5th will be the Most Important Day in our Nation’s History!” he wrote.

Trump criticized Biden for taking so long to address immigration and also defended himself against attacks that he had weakened NATO and is too cozy with Putin. “He said I bowed down to the Russian Leader. He gave them everything, including Ukraine. I took away Nord Stream 2, he gave it to them! He was a Puppet for Putin and Xi, and virtually every other Leader!” Trump wrote.

Biden didn’t mention Trump’s name once during his 68-minute speech — just as the White House promised. But he mentioned “my predecessor” 13 times, repeatedly slamming Trump without naming him directly. He also made at least one reference to the “previous administration.”

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As he neared the end of the speech, President Joe Biden quipped, “I know it may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while.”

The 81-year-old president added, “When you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever.”

He went on to promise that he wouldn’t allow the country to go backward or return to the past.

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Age is a big issue in the 2024 race. And as he and Trump square up for a likely rematch, they’re contending with widespread concerns about whether either one is sharp enough for the job.

According to a new AP-NORC poll, 63% of U.S. adults are “not very confident” or “not at all confident” that Biden has the mental capability to serve effectively as president. A slightly smaller but similar share (57%) is not confident in Trump’s mental capability. Biden, though, faces greater concern from independents about his acuity and memory: 80% are not confident in Biden’s mental abilities, while 56% are not confident in Trump’s.

As soon as Biden wrapped his speech, Republican members swarmed toward the exits. Democrats began to form a line behind the aisle to shake the president’s hand and take selfies.

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Biden talked about a trip he made to Uvalde, Texas, the site of a deadly mass shooting, in order to call again for banning so-called assault weapons. It’s a political term to describe guns most often used in mass shootings with the capacity to kill a lot of people quickly.

Biden contrasted his views with Trump, who said after a more recent school shooting in Iowa, “Just get over it.”

The president declared, “I say, Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”

Biden is promising “no U.S. boots will be on the ground” amid Israel’s war in Gaza. Instead, he said, “A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza.”

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In discussing immigration policy, President Joe Biden mentioned Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who police say was killed by an immigrant in the country illegally.

Biden blamed Republicans for derailing a bipartisan border package in the Senate.

When Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene cried, “Say her name,” Biden replied. “Laken Riley.”

He said she had been killed by an “illegal” — referring to people in the country illegally. That’s a word Democrats do not use today; when Biden took office he used the word “noncitizens.”

But he also said the border package would have improved immigration policy — if congressional Republicans hadn’t derailed it.

Greene tried to give Biden a pin with Riley’s name as he entered the chamber prior to his speech.

When he began to discuss the Oct. 7 attack, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, held up a sign that “Lasting Ceasefire Now.”

The topic of border security was always expected to be tense.

As Biden listed off the provisions of the Senate’s border security bill, the chief GOP negotiator, Sen. James Lankford shook his head in agreement.

And then he urged Congress to work together to pass a border security compromise.

“Get this bill done!” Biden said.

He even called on Trump to stop fighting against a deal.

“We can do it together,” he said

Truth Social is back up and Trump has been posting, offering a steady barrage of criticism of Biden’s speech, hitting him over inflation, his handling of the border and his delivery.

“He is so angry and crazy!” Trump said of Biden, adding: “THE COUGHING, THE COUGHING - ALWAYS THE COUGHING!” (“THE DRUGS ARE WEARING OFF!” he declared at one point.) Trump also complained that Biden “talked about the SNICKERS Bars, before he talked about the Border!”

Trump is also defending himself against some of Biden’s attacks, insisting that he made NATO stronger by pushing nations to invest more in defense with his threats not to defend those who fall short of spending goals.

There’s not a lot of unity usually in the House chamber between Democrats and Republicans. But there was a rare bipartisan standing ovation when Biden mentioned the late Rep. John Lewis.

Lewis died in 2020. He was at the Selma march in 1965. It’s the 59th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march tonight.

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The president has been especially energetic throughout his speech, offering one verbal attack after another on Republicans with gusto and even throwing in an occasional “Hell” for emphasis.

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Biden engaged in several call and release instances as well, responding to Republicans who booed and hissed about the bipartisan Senate border package that has stalled, “Oh, you don’t like that bill, do you?” He continued to spar saying, “Look at the facts,” and, “I know you know how to read.”

Biden even elicited bipartisan cries from lawmakers who yelled, “No!” when Biden asked, “Folks at home, does anyone think the tax code is fair?”

It’s an idea he first pitched during his first State of the Union address in 2021. His plan would have called for states and the federal government to jointly fund it. He also sought to radically expand an existing program that helps the neediest families with child care expenses. The price tag for preschool and child care programs in the American Rescue Plan was $200 billion.

Congress ultimately axed from the American Rescue Plan. It passed a bill in 2021 that included $24 billion to keep the child care industry afloat, money that providers used to raise worker salaries and keep tuition rates down. It was the largest federal investment in child care in history.

That funding expired in September. Biden’s calls to invest an additional $16 billion to keep the industry solvent have gone unheeded.

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Biden is turning his State of the Union speech into an animated argument for a second term as he laced into GOP front-runner Donald Trump for embracing “resentment, revenge and retribution,” casting him as a threat to American democracy.

Over and over, Biden took jabs at “my predecessor” without mentioning Trump by name.

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Donald Trump’s Truth Social appeared to struggle at time to keep up with traffic as he offers live commentary of Biden’s speech.

Users across the country reported received error messages and time-outs after Biden began.

Before that, Trump had been playing pundit with plenty of all-caps and exclamation points, criticizing Biden for spending too long shaking hands -- “This is the longest walk in Presidential History - It is ridiculous!” he said -- and calling his late start “VERY DISRESPECTFUL TO OUR COUNTRY!”

“They will have to drive very, very quickly, you just don’t want to be late to the State of the Union. They will need Mario Andretti to be at the wheel of the Limo,” he quipped.

A number of House Republicans began to stand up and leave the chamber as Biden discussed raising taxes on billionaires and corporations. Others remained in their chairs and shook their heads.

“Tell Hunter to pay his taxes,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene yells at Biden as he discusses Americans evading their taxes.

The economy is a perennial topic for State of the Union addresses, but this year Biden is emphasizing recent positive economic indicators since Americans generally think the national economic situation is sour — and many think it’s gotten worse since Biden took office.

A new AP-NORC poll found that 69% of U.S. adults describe the nation’s economy as “poor.” Americans are more optimistic about their own finances than about the economy as a whole: About half (54%) of U.S. adults describe their household’s financial situation as good.

But when it comes to Biden’s performance on the economy, there’s a lot of discontent. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) disapprove of the way he’s handling the economy, and 57% say the national economy is worse off than it was when he took office in 2021.

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Biden laid out his economic values: unions, factory jobs, the middle class and lower prices for prescription drugs. It’s the economic equivalent of a politician celebrating apple pie, baseball and motherhood.

But Biden is trying to pitch the 3.7% unemployment rate and inflation at 3.1% — down from a high of 9.1% in 2022 — as a comeback victory that could keep going. So far, his message had done little to nothing to boost his low 34% approval among U.S. adults on the economy.

Calling the U.S. economy the envy of the world, Biden tried to make his best pitch to a deeply skeptical public that things are getting better: “When America gets knocked down, we get back up.”

He pointed out that the racial wealth gap is the smallest in 20 years. Still, the Black-white racial wealth gap does persist.

Biden’s administration has pitched its policies as a remedy to economic stagnation and inequality across communities.

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As Biden was taking a victory lap in selling his legislative accomplishments — such as one that bolsters the manufacturing of computer chips nationwide — he veered from his prepared script to troll Republicans who voted against such policies but are eager to take credit for them back home.

“If any of you don’t want that money in your districts,” Biden said, “just let me know.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson cannot hide how he feels as Biden runs through his economic accomplishments.

Jobs created, inflation reduced and new factories opening in America.
Johnson blinks his eyes, shakes his head. He looks to his colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle.

He does not cheer.

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At one point Johnson politely applauds the mention of new jobs that don’t require a college degree.

But mostly, the speaker sits behind the president, and as Democrats cheer. He does not jump to his feet for any of it.

Biden said, “Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women.”

The president started talking about reproductive rights early in his speech, reflecting how important the issue will be to Democrats in the 2024 election.

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Biden says those who doubt the voting power of women “found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023 — and they will find out again, in 2024.”

He also said he would sign a federal law that protected abortion rights.

The moment is still fresh for many lawmakers who endured the violence and mayhem that day, as Trump’s mob of supporters laid siege trying to undo his 2020 election loss.

“They failed,” Biden thundered, as lawmakers cheered applauded. “America stood.”

He vowed not to “bury the truth” of what happened that day, despite efforts by some to rewrite the history.

Biden quickly shouted out Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who is in attendance, declaring “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” early in the State of the Union.

Kristersson is in the first lady’s box as Sweden gets set to complete the formal process of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sweden, along with Finland, moved to join NATO after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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Biden also praised NATO and decried Russian President Vladimir Putin, a swipe at Trump, who has suggested that he’d encourage Putin and Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet defense spending guidelines.

“My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6,” he said. It was an aggressive tone off the bat from the president at a normally staid affair, but it reflected the high stakes of this year’s election.

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It was a moment — the Democratic president, the new Republican speaker — and it seemed to go just fine.

Biden took the dais and passed his speech up to new House Speaker Mike Johnson, extending his hand for the traditional shake. Johnson extended his back.

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No apparent words were said. They both smiled.

In a time of deep partisanship in politics, it could have been different, or worse, but that was it.

President Joe Biden says his purpose tonight is to “wake up the Congress” and alert the American people that “this is no ordinary moment” in history. He says freedom and democracy are under attack.

The president started with the war in Ukraine, talking about what he believes is the urgent need for funding in order to stop Russia’s aggression.

In the background of tonight’s speech, the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars are raging. Lawmakers are locked in a dispute about how much — if any — aid to contribute to allies in each conflict, and a new AP-NORC poll found that everyday Republicans and Democrats have very different views about how involved the U.S. should be in global problems generally.

Overall, there isn’t much appetite for a more active role abroad: 4 in 10 U.S. adults think the country should take a less active role in solving the world’s problems or that its current role is about right (36%), and only 23% want the U.S. to take a more active role. But while the GOP was associated in the past with a more interventionist style of foreign policy, that’s not a popular outlook among rank-and-file Republicans today. About half of Republicans (53%) and independents (47%) think the U.S. should take a less active role in solving the world’s problems, while about half (52%) of Democrats say the U.S.’s current role is about right.

But Republicans, independents, and Democrats are united on one thing: Only about 2 in 10 want the U.S. to take a more active role abroad.

It was after 9:25 p.m. EST when President Joe Biden finally reached the House dais. He got to the chamber a few minutes after 9 p.m. and took about 20 more minutes making his way to the front of the chamber — stopping to chat, shake hands and take selfies.

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Democratic lawmakers chanted “Four more years!” while some Republicans crowded close to throw out topics they hope Biden will address in his speech — like immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

“If I were smart, I’d go home now,” Biden declared with a smile. The president, who is often famously late, didn’t mention his tardiness this time.

During the speech, the House speaker and vice president sit behind the president. But there’s been a new speaker every year under Biden. Former leader Nancy Pelosi lost the spot when Republicans secured a narrow lead in the chamber.

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Then it was Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted after he backed a deal to keep the government funded.

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Now, it’s Mike Johnson in the seat. He was named to the job after a stunning 21 days with no leader. It was the longest Congress was rudderless since 1962. That time it took 55 days to elect a new speaker.

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Donald Trump is continuing to taunt his likely Democratic rival before Biden’s address to the nation.
Trump, who is planning to offer live commentary of the speech his social media website, is accusing Biden of overseeing a ‘MIGRANT INVASION” and complaining about his criminal indictments.
An avid consumer of cable news, he says: “This will be an exciting evening. You never know what you’re going to get with Crooked Joe.”

Many Democrats are trying to take selfies with President Biden as he slowly but surely makes his way down the row of lawmakers.

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Six sitting Supreme Court justices are in the house for Biden’s speech. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor are wearing their judicial robes, along with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas are absent. Barrett showed up last year. Neither Alito nor Thomas have attended in many years.

The last time so many current members of the court were on hand was in 2016 for Barack Obama’s final State of the Union message. Then, Roberts, Kennedy, Kagan and Sotomayor were joined by then-Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The House chamber erupted with cheers as the president walked through the doors, shaking hands with lawmakers along the way.

Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas walked alongside fellow Biden Cabinet members onto the House floor and was greeted by some of his most harsh critics, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — who led the impeachment effort against him. The Georgia Republican tried to hand Mayorkas a pin that had Laken Riley’s name on it but he turned away from her to shake the hands of Democrats awaiting him on the other side.

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By custom, at least one Cabinet member does not attend the speech in order to preserve the Constitutional line of succession in the event of a catastrophe.

Last year, that fell to then-Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. In 2022, the duty was assigned to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. We’ll know who this year’s chosen one later on tonight.