When President Biden discusses the state of the US economy during tonight’s State of the Union address, he will focus his comments on a new plan to lower costs for American families and his administration’s efforts in the labor market’s recovery, senior administration officials told reporters on a call previewing the remarks.
While he’ll tout economic gains over the past year, Biden will underscore there is “more work” to do toward lowering costs — a reflection that despite a strong recovery, many Americans are still pessimistic about the economy.
The President will specifically discuss price increases impacting Americans, laying out a four-point plan to lower costs for American families and continue on the US’ economic recovery amid the Covid pandemic. The four-point plan will focus on:
- Making more things in America, strengthening our supply chains, and moving goods faster and cheaper;
- Reducing the cost of everyday expenses working families face and reducing the deficit;
- Promoting fair competition to lower prices, help small businesses thrive, and protect consumers; and
- Eliminating barriers to good-paying jobs for workers all across America.
As part of his plan to lower costs, Biden is expected to announce two new specific initiatives in a pair of disparate industries: the ocean shipping sector and nursing homes.
He’ll use the shipping example to illustrate corporate consolidation the administration says is driving up prices; three conglomerates now control 80% of global container ship capacity. Biden is launching a new initiative between the Federal Maritime Commission and the Justice Department to promote greater competition. He’ll also highlight the toll Covid has taken on nursing homes, and announce new steps to improve conditions in those facilities.
Explaining that 23% of all US Covid deaths occurred in nursing homes, Biden will decry the lack of accountability in facilities with back track records. The administration plans to establish a new minimum staffing ratio and expand penalties for badly performing homes.
“He’ll talk about the progress that we’ve made in the last year in face of deep challenges and he’ll talk about his optimism for the future … And he’ll remind the country that our best days lie ahead,” an official on the call said. The President will also “underscore that during his first year in office, in large part thanks to the American Rescue Plan, entrepreneurship and business investment has rebounded, the economy achieved its fastest job growth in American history, the fastest economic growth in nearly 40 years, and a faster recovery than every other advanced economy in the G7.”
During the speech, the official said, Biden is expected to “make clear that there’s more work to do that there’s more work to rebuild the economy, towards resilience, security and sustainability.”
The President is also expected to announce specific goals for implementation of his landmark bipartisan infrastructure law.
“The President will make clear that he believes one of the best ways to lower costs over the long run is to increase the productive capacity of our economy. Put simply, that means make more things in America with more American workers contributing and earning a good living,” one official on the call said, later adding that “the President will also call on Congress to send him bipartisan competitiveness legislation.”
He’ll also tout the labor market’s recovery, according to an official on the call, specifically highlighting how the American Rescue Plan played a role “in positioning employers to hire and workers to rejoin the labor force and find higher quality jobs to further our economic recovery and increase the productive capacity for our economy.”
On the President’s signature social spending legislation, Build Back Better, which has stalled in Congress since West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced he’d oppose the bill, an official said to expect Biden will “say that it’s time for Congress to act, it’s time for Congress to get him a piece of legislation that addresses those core challenges for families right now.”
Still, the official wouldn’t say if Biden would call explicitly for passage of Build Back Better by name, just one month after Manchin told reporters the legislation was “dead.”
“It’s not about the name of the bill, it’s about the ideas, it’s about lowering costs for families,” the official told reporters on Monday’s call. “And I think you can expect to hear the President talk about those ideas — he’s going to talk about lowering prescription drug costs, lowering health care premiums, lowering families’ utility bills, lowering the cost families pay to care for their children and parents.”
And while another official said to expect the President to address rising costs and his plans to lower prices, they declined to say whether he’d address inflation, even as the consumer price index hits a 40-year high.
