PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — President Joe Biden gave his first nationally televised address to Congress Wednesday evening, in which he proposed expanding federal programs with a steep investment of nearly $4 trillion, in all.
He said America is on the move again, and the trillions of dollars would help rebuild the economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. He also called for action on infrastructure, police reform and gun control.
“After 100 days of rescuing renewal, America is ready for takeoff, in my view,” the president said.
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Dr. Joshua Weikert, Immaculata University professor and chair of the Civic Engagement Department, said Biden demonstrated the sincerity he’s known for and effectively highlighted his accomplishments so far.
“And it helped that he had a lot of good news to report. Not every president does during their first 100 days,” he said.
Drexel University professor of political science Dr. Bill Rosenberg said Biden presented his ideas as mainstream and generally supported by the public.
“I think what he was trying to do was show that we have much to be able to accomplish going forward in the future. At the same time, he wanted to demonstrate that in his first 100 days, he had accomplished so much, particularly with regards to the pandemic,” he said.
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Some argue Biden’s lofty spending goals are a gamble. He detailed tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations to help the middle class and poor.
“It’s always easier to tax other people rather than yourselves,” said Rosenberg. “It’s generally, for most of the public, thought to be, ‘well let’s tax the corporations and the really wealthy because they have the money.’ But he also pointed out that the extent to which their wealth has increased just over the pandemic is really astounding.
“He was saying that we wanted to tax people and corporations at a fair rate, not at an unreasonable rate; that he felt that people should be able to be millionaires and billionaires, but just how to pay their fair taxes.”
Some Republicans, like Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, said Biden’s ideas were fleeting, calling them “a liberal wishlist of government waste.”
“Our president seems like a good man,” Scott said. “But our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes.”
Rosenberg said Scott actually did well in presenting himself in a non-conflictual way, as he didn’t attack Biden, per se.
“He also said that the Republican Party has to play a role in this and that they can’t be shut out. And I think Biden effectively did that as well by saying he’s inviting Republicans to participate,” Rosenberg explained. “But I think Biden learned a very important lesson as vice president when Obama was trying to pass health care, that the Republicans were being obstructionists. They weren’t really interested in working with him. And I think Biden has now decided that he’s going to try and work with Republicans when he can, but he's not going to not do anything because they don’t want to go along.
“As a result, I think the Republicans would probably be very smart to try and figure out a way that they can work with Joe Biden rather than simply oppose him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.