'I believe in America': Fired-up Biden uses State of the Union to skewer GOP, his 'predecessor'
The president made the case for why he deserves a second term.
President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night.
The speech provided Biden one of his biggest audiences of the year as he made his case for a second term and contrasted his vision of the country's future with Republicans ahead of what's expected to be a lengthy general election fight with former President Donald Trump.
ABC News live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the speech, with 538 providing analysis and a closer look at the polling and data behind the politicians.
Key moments:
Biden touts drug pricing reform but says more needs to be done
Last year, the Biden administration unveiled the first set of prescription drugs that are subject to price negotiations with Medicare -- a milestone for Democrats in their yearslong push to lower rising health care costs.
He celebrated the effort, telling the crowd: "With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma."
"Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade," Biden proposed. "That will not only save lives it will save taxpayers another $200 billion."
The president's economic message has failed to resonate so far
Voters have disapproved of how the economy is doing since Biden took office, though most of the measures economists look at have been increasingly strong. Biden's been trying to convince voters that his economic plans will deliver, but that’s been a hard sell even with his own voters.
Despite Americans’ economic outlook is improving, they haven’t so far given Biden credit, and it hasn’t translated into increased approval ratings for him.
-Monica Potts, 538
'It takes time,' Biden says as he boasts of economy and lowering inflation
Biden, who has faced low poll numbers on his handling of the economy, highlighted the positive numbers on unemployment, job growth and cooling inflation from headline-making highs.
"Wages keep going up, inflation keeps coming down," he said to applause. "Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3%, the lowest in the world and trending lower."
"It takes time but the American people are beginning to feel it," he said.
Pandemic economic recovery the 'greatest comeback story'
Biden recalled how four years ago this month, the U.S. was hit by the "worst pandemic and the worst economic crisis of the century."
"I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in the nation's history," he said. "It doesn't make news, but in a thousand cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told."
Biden touted that 15 million new jobs were created in just three years after the onset of COVID-19 and unemployment is at 50-year lows. A "record" 16 million Americans are starting small businesses, he said.
He also suggested that the country has moved beyond the pandemic, though people continue to die from the disease every day -- at much lower numbers than before the advent of vaccines.
Britt addresses border security, Laken Riley's killing
Sen. Katie Britt called Biden's border policies over the past three years a "disgrace" and "senseless."
"This crisis is despicable. And the truth is, it is almost entirely preventable," she said. "From fentanyl poisonings to horrific murders, there are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one."
Britt mentioned Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed last month on the University of Georgia's campus. The suspect in her murder is a Venezuelan migrant whom officials say was illegally in the U.S.
"She was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland," Britt said. "Y’all, as a mom, I can't quit thinking about this. I mean, this could have been my daughter. This could have been yours. And tonight, President Biden finally said her name, but he refused to take responsibility for his own actions."