FACT CHECK: Biden's Address To Congress

Speaker 1: 00:00 And his first major address to Congress, president Biden outlined a bold economic agenda while assuring the nation that America is on its way out of the Corona virus pandemic. Speaker 2: 00:11 After 100 days of rescue and renewal, America's ready for takeoff. In my view, we're working again dreaming again, discovering again, and leading the world again. Speaker 1: 00:25 And while fellow Democrats in particular praise the president's calls to action and addressing climate change and economic inequality, many in the party are urging Biden to pursue more ambitious, progressive policy. While in office joining me to discuss the democratic reaction to the president's address is chair of the San Diego County democratic party will Rodriguez Kennedy. Well welcome. Thank you for having me. What was your initial reaction to the president's speech? Speaker 3: 00:52 I think it is quite the change from the last time we had a president, uh, addressed a joint session of Congress. It was historic in many ways. I just, from the beginning, noting that we had two Californians and two women occupying the two top seats, uh, as the speaker and the vice president, but generally it's a, it was a hopeful vision for the country. Although, you know, we, as a party are going to want to push for more, Speaker 1: 01:16 A lot of ground was covered in yesterday's address. What do you think were the most critical issues that the president brought up Speaker 3: 01:23 The president is looking to build back better? Which means he wants to make sure that as we get through the, uh, the recovery and that as we open the economy safely, that we also are addressing and making critical investments in our country from looking at, uh, sort of economic investments, uh, to the family, to make sure that we can make broad investments into infrastructure and also addressing several reforms that have not been addressed. Things like immigration and, and police reform Speaker 1: 01:49 During his campaign for the presidency Biden often referred to as moderate political alignment as an advantage in pursuing bi-partisan legislative efforts. Did you hear any messaging in this speech that would signal an effort to work with Republicans across the aisle on some of that, that, Speaker 3: 02:05 Yes, uh, the president made reference to productive conversations that are happening in the us Senate with the Republican caucus, Democrats have caused to be skeptical. Uh, Republicans have been obstructionist in the past and have failed, uh, when they had a majority in the Senate to address the economic and even health flows of this country. Um, but it does look like the administration is working in good faith to try and get, uh, bring some of the Republicans, uh, along, uh, whether or not they will be good faith partners as these senators are now starting to position themselves for their own political presidential runs. You know, you have to treat it with some skepticism Speaker 1: 02:40 Yesterday. The president urged Congress to pass a police reform bill by the end of may, which would Mark one year since George Floyd died at the hands of police, do you think the president is setting the right tone and addressing issues of racial injustice in America? Speaker 3: 02:55 I would say that it is a great thing for him to set a deadline, to want to honor the tragic anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. I am skeptical that Republicans will take this issue and work in good faith. I think that a lot of the things that we will run up against in terms of big policies like these like criminal justice reform, which is a very complex issue that needs to be addressed, we'll run into the fact that the Senate is 50 50. And so I think it'll be difficult for the president to achieve anything without ending the filibuster, which is one of the proposals of our California Senator Alex Videa Speaker 1: 03:31 Biden really leaned in to tackling white supremacy and systemic racism. And during the Republican rebuttal, however, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, was very critical of that. Speaker 4: 03:41 People are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven't made any progress at all. By doubling down on the divisions, we've worked so hard to heal, you know, this stuff that's wrong. Hear me clearly, America is not a racist country, Speaker 1: 03:59 A lot to unpack there. What are your thoughts on that claim by Senator Scott? Speaker 3: 04:04 I am hesitant to engage in, um, criticisms of, of, of black leaders who are, who are making, uh, who are speaking their truth from their perspective. What I will say is that it is a pretty objective fact that there is provable systemic racism in the United States, and that we have to, as a country address that systemic racism. And we saw that things as evident as the COVID-19 pandemic, where communities of color, particularly the black and Latino communities suffered and died at greater rates than their quite fellow Americans. We know that the criminal justice system has a disproportionate impact on disproportionate treatments of black and Latino Americans and API Americans. So it's a pretty objective fact that there is systemic racism in the United States. And I would agree with the president that we need to address it and address it soon, Speaker 1: 04:53 Also laid out in American jobs plan, the American family plan, the $1.8 trillion price tag that comes with it is something Republicans say raises concern for them. Um, what's your argument as to why this money should be spent this way? Speaker 3: 05:07 I think it's very interesting that the Republicans, you routinely talk about things like spending when they are out of office, but they added a normous amount to the national debt. The reality is, is that we, as a country can spend beyond our means for a short while and that that spending can stimulate the economy. And then in the end allows us to address the debt in a reasonable timeframe. The United States is a very strong economy, the strongest economy in the world. And therefore we can afford to make investments that pay off in the future and the Republican party, which is the party of business and the party of economics and financial conservatism or whatever. They should understand the concept of investments. And if they don't understand that, then they're being intellectually dishonest. Speaker 1: 05:51 The strategy to get this agenda from legislation to law, for the Biden administration. Do you think will be key to get this through the Senate? Speaker 3: 06:00 A lot of these issues are very popular. If you look on an, on an issue by issue, uh, whether it's investing in infrastructure, whether it's investing in the family. And these are going to give me talking points that are very popular, particularly in red and purple, uh, Senate districts. So I think the initial approach is that the by the Biden administration is going to try and pull off some of the moderate Republican senators to support a broad, uh, agenda that will be popular with the American people. Um, if that is not the case, however, I would not put it past, uh, moving to filibuster reform, which will allow the Democrats to pass a legislation into law with a 50 mudra 50, uh, plus one majority which allows our, uh, vice-president and California native, uh, Kamala Harris to cast a series of tie-breaking votes. So I think those are the two approaches that the administration will take towards legislation. Speaker 1: 06:50 I've been speaking with will Rodriguez Kennedy chair of the San Diego County democratic party will thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.