Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, delivered a State of the Union address on February 7, 2023, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the House of Representatives to the 118th Congress. The televised address was viewed by 27.3 million people across the networks that broadcast it.
It was Biden's second State of the Union and his third speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, accompanied by Kamala Harris, the vice president, in her capacity as the president of the Senate.
It was the first address to a Republican-controlled House of Representatives since 2018.
Proceedings Article II, Section 3, Clause 1, of the United States Constitution states that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." On January 13, 2023, President Biden accepted Speaker McCarthy's invitation to deliver a State of the Union Address on February 7.
Marty Walsh, the then-United States Secretary of Labor, was the designated survivor for 2023's speech.
Issues mentioned
His administration's competition agenda, advocating for a ban on "junk fees" and non-compete clauses. Biden called on Congress to enact antitrust laws to rein in Big Tech. The creation of 12 million new jobs and the unemployment rate. Other talking points mentioned include domestic semiconductor manufacturing, inflation, infrastructure, gun violence, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The debt-ceiling crisis and highlighted some Republican-backed proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare. After Republicans in the audience booed, Biden retorted, "as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? They're not to be touched." A base record of unemployment during his tenure; declining inflation rate, caused by high price of energy over 18 past months; and trying to improve the industrial base of the country through discussions on legislative accomplishments.
Disruptions Several members in the audience interrupted Biden; Representative Andy Ogles yelled "it's your fault!" when Biden acknowledged fentanyl overdose deaths, and Representatives Bob Good and Marjorie Taylor Greene shouted "liar!" during Biden's comments about Republicans cutting Social Security and Medicare. Greene stayed seated when Biden introduced the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova and the family of Tyre Nichols.
Responses
Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas gave the Republican response to the president's address. In her speech, Sanders criticized Biden's for allegedly prioritizing "woke fantasies" over the livelihoods of Americans. Sanders also stated that "we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn't start and never wanted to fight".
Representative Juan Ciscomani delivered the Republican response in Spanish.
Working Families Party Representative Delia Ramirez (IL-03) delivered the Working Families Party response. In her speech, Ramirez praised the Biden administration's record while calling for action to revive the expanded child tax credit, enact a $15 minimum wage, and expand Medicaid.
Viewership This State of the Union address drew 27.3 million viewers, a 29% drop from 2022 and the lowest State of the Union audience in 30 years. According to Nielsen, 73% of the people who watched Biden's speech were over the age of 55, while only 5% were under age 35. CNN and MSNBC are the only networks to deliver lower viewership for the 2023 speech than for the 2021 speech. NetworkViewersFNC 4,695,000ABC 4,405,000NBC 3,778,000CBS 3,637,000MSNBC 3,569,000CNN 2,411,000Fox 1,656,000Univision 1,083,000Telemundo 836,000Newsmax 252,000CNBC 128,000NewsNation 97,000Fox Business 64,000CNN en Español 18,000 Broadcast networks Cable news networks
Invited persons
Officers or veterans
Jeffrey T. Smith: Montgomery County Sheriff of Fort Plain, New York, who has served since being elected in 2018. He has been an officer for 34 years and was undersheriff for 12 of those years. Michael Weinstock: A former firefighter who served during the September 11 attacks and has a neurological condition as a result. His attendance drew media attention as he was the guest of New York Rep. George Santos, who has made numerous false or dubious claims about his biography and work history, including a claim that his mother had died prematurely due to health effects of the attacks. Weinstock hoped to draw attention 9/11-related health issues; he was fired from his law firm before attending due to the Santos connection. Jordan Zaitz: An officer of the Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau who has been working for 19 years and is currently fighting the city's growing homeless and drug problem. Richard M. Fierro: Army veteran who disarmed the shooter with two other people at the Club Q shooting on the Transgender Day of Remembrance in 2022. His daughter's boyfriend, Raymond Vance, died during the attack. Andrea Neutzling: An Army veteran from Syracuse, Ohio, who is suffering from multiple lung diseases due to exposure from burn pits during her service in Iraq and helped get the PACT Act passed. Laura Villicana: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officer who has been helping build bridges with East Las Vegas's Latino community.
Politicians
Henry Lo: Former mayor of Monterey Park, California, and current councilman of the city who was mayor during the Lunar New Year's Eve shooting in his city. Governor Wes Moore: Democrat and Maryland's first Black governor in the state's 246-year history, and the third African-American elected governor in the history of the United States. Roya Rahmani: Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the United States who served from December 2018 until July 2021, one month before the complete withdrawal of American troops from her country and the subsequent fall of her country to the Taliban, which resulted in a rollback of women's rights in the country. Governor Maura Healey: Democratic Governor of Massachusetts who has been serving since elected in 2022 and is the first elected female governor of Massachusetts as well as the first elected openly LGBT official in the state.
CEOs, founders, or presidents of organizations or companies
Jennifer Gray Thompson: CEO of After the Fire USA, a wildfire recovery organization based in Sonoma, California, which primarily assists across areas of the Western United States hit by large wildfires. Andrew Cortés: Founder of Building Futures, a pre-apprenticeship training program for construction jobs in Providence, Rhode Island, that works with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA) on infrastructure in the state. Raya Kenney: CEO and founder of The National Memorial to the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation who inspired Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to write a bill establishing a memorial honoring the women who worked on the home front during World War II in Washington, D.C., which was subsequently signed by Joe Biden in December 2022. Allison O’Toole: CEO of the Second Harvest Heartland charity in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, which has been feeding families from Minnesota and western Wisconsin in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. James Gibbs: International Vice President of United Mine Workers of America, one of the largest unions in the United States who is trying to get funding for black lung benefits for coal miners with pneumoconiosis, which is often called "black lung disease". Jacki Liszak: President and CEO of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, elected Fire Commissioner for the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District, and owner and operator of several small businesses in the area with her husband. Her city was devastated by Hurricane Ian in 2022, and she met with Biden to survey the damage after the storm had passed. Adrien Bennings: President of Portland Community College since 2022, and its first permanent female president. Liz Shuler: President of the AFL–CIO since 2021.
Private or miscellaneous people Brandon Tsay: A computer programmer from San Marino, California, who disarmed the shooter at his family's Lai Lai Ballroom in Alhambra, California, during a Lunar New Year's Eve celebration on January 21. RowVaughn and Rodney Wells: mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, a Black driver who was beaten to death by five Black Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers during a traffic stop on January 7. Darrell Woodie: A good samaritan and part-time Amazon driver who helped Republican Florida representative Greg Steube by calling for 9-1-1 after he fell down 25 feet while cutting tree limbs in his property in Sarasota on January 18. Kelley O'Hara: United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) player, world and Olympic champion, and host of The Players' Pod podcast on Just Women's Sports who successfully helped negotiate equal pay for both the men's and women's national soccer teams in 2022. Michael Isaacson: Executive Director of the Kane County Health Department who worked for more than 22 years, including the duration of COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois. Sara Harvey: A sixth grader from Lower Southampton, Pennsylvania, who raised more than $20,000 since she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, an eye cancer, at age 4. She will be accompanied by her parents Steve and Toni, as well as her younger brother Sonny. Joe Cramer: A dry-bean farmer from Frankenmuth, Michigan, who previously worked for the Michigan Bean Commission as well as vice president of Star of the West Milling Co. Pamela Walker: mother of Jayland Walker, a 25 year old Black man who was shot and killed by Akron Police Department officers with 46 bullets following a police chase on June 27, 2022. Dr. James Baker: A doctor from Lowell, Massachusetts, who has been helping patients fight the opioid crisis and advocates for new laws regarding safe opioid prescriptions since he lost his son Max to opioid addiction in 2016. Delegate Carl W. Jackson: Delegate from Baltimore County, Maryland, who has served since 2019. Michael Brown Sr.: The father of 18 year old Michael Brown, a Black teen who was controversially shot and killed by a White Ferguson Police Department officer named Darren Wilson in 2014 after he was accused of robbing a convenience store. Sterling Brown: A basketball player in the NBA who was tackled and tased by Milwaukee Police Department officers due to an escalated encounter stemming from his car straddling two handicapped parking spaces at a Walgreens while he was on the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018. Kate Dineen: An abortion rights activist from Boston who had to travel 500 miles from her home city to Bethesda, Maryland, to get an abortion after her son suffered a stroke in utero and she had a 50% chance of dying because she couldn't receive one at Massachusetts General Hospital due to new state laws passed after the overturning of Roe v. Wade that banned abortions after 24 weeks (6 months) in 2022. Ellen Mahoney: Widow of 61-year-old Kevin Mahoney, who was killed at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, Colorado, in 2021. Chris DeShields: A SEPTA bus driver from Philadelphia who stopped a carjacking by using his bus to block and scare the perpetrator on January 25. Amanda Barbosa: Wife of a former Army helicopter pilot who has stage four colon cancer due to being exposed to toxic substances during her service. She has been advocating for better care of veterans and military personnel who were also exposed to toxic substances and worked with senator Amy Klobuchar pass the PACT Act.