'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.


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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.


George Santos says he'll attend State of the Union

Disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that he plans on attending the State of the Union.

Former members have privileges to be on the House floor and Santos retained his privileges despite being expelled, though it's unclear -- based on Santos' past history of misstatements and exaggerations -- if he'll actually attend or if his comments amount to bluster.

The Republican, who was expelled in December in the wake of being charged with multiple criminal felonies, including fraud, first gained notoriety after it was revealed he fabricated parts of his background. (He has pleaded not guilty to his charges.)

Since leaving the House, he has found success on the video service Cameo and appeared on the show hosted by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh.