DeForest, Wisconsin (CNN) President Joe Biden brought his State of the Union populist economic messaging to Wisconsin on Wednesday, firing back at Republicans and highlighting the U.S.’s performance in a preview of the expected 2024 battleground state debate.
Biden made it clear he was ready to continue the fight while he was on the road, revisiting the debate over the social safety net with Republicans that sparked one of the most memorable moments of Tuesday’s speech. The argument highlights Biden’s attempts to shift his message away from “extreme MAGA” and “mega-MAGA” talking points in the 2022 midterm elections.
“Last night, I reported on the State of the Union: It’s strong, it’s strong,” Biden told a room of union workers at the LiUNA training facility in DeForest, Wisconsin, repeating much of his message on the economy and emphasizing the important legislative achievements. .
But as he joked that he had a “spirited debate last night” with Republicans on Social Security and Medicare, Biden offered a new warning to the GOP.
“Look – many Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, I’ll just say it: This is your dream, but I will make my veto pen a nightmare,” he said.
Republicans repeatedly booed Biden during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, ignoring the occasional shush from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. At moments throughout the speech, Republicans in the House of Representatives shouted at Biden, protesting his approach to many issues such as immigration, Social Security and Medicare spending and the debt ceiling.
Biden said some Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, “seemed shocked” when she highlighted the efforts of their colleagues to cut social safety net programs, holding a “brochure” with the plan of Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott to demand all federal. legislation — including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — to be approved every five years. He referenced quotes on the matter from Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who received boos and hisses, and Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee.
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“There was a senator named Mike Lee who was also yelling, ‘liar, liar, house on fire’ stuff last night. … They played last night, something I didn’t even know existed, a video that saying, ‘I’m here today to tell you something you’ve probably never heard from a politician: It’s my intention to phase out Social Security,'” he said.
Biden continued, “It’s very clear to me – how about you? But they (Republican lawmakers) sure don’t like me calling him.
Shortly after Biden’s remarks near Madison, PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff asked him if he expected the kind of reaction he got in the House.
“From the people who did it, I am,” Biden said. “The majority of Republicans are not like that, but you know, there is a significant element of what I call ‘MAGA Republicans.'”
The president told Woodruff that McCarthy was “gracious,” and so were “many members.”
Regarding the “conversion” last night of some Republicans, he offered skepticism during his speech: “I sure hope that’s true. I’ll believe it when I see it if their budget is put in the cuts that they proposed. we negotiated an agreement last night on the floor of the House of Representatives.”
Earlier in the speech, Biden tried to make a broader argument for working with GOP lawmakers, pointing to the accomplishments of his first two years in office.
“Why can’t we do it again?” he asked.
“People sent us a clear message: Fighting for the sake of fighting won’t get us anything. We’re done with things,” he said, before continuing to draw tin- well arguments against his Republican colleagues.
And he again called on Congress to raise the national debt limit in his first remarks, warning against the “chaos” he said Republicans are “suggesting.”
Biden also blamed a television commentator he heard aboard Air Force One bemoaning his focus on garbage fees: “Garbage fees may not matter to the rich, but they matter to most people. like the house I grew up in. dollars a month to make it harder to pay your bills or afford a family trip. I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and thinks that they can avoid it.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.