Ahead of Pa. visit, Biden tells Congress to ‘pass Bobby Casey’s bill,’ in animated State of the Union speech

While President Joe Biden was addressing a joint session of Congress Thursday night, the key audience for his State of the Union address was voters in swing states like Pennsylvania — where he’ll travel the following day.

The state and the issues it faces were featured throughout the night. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker watched Biden’s State of the Union address from inside the House chamber, while Philadelphia City Councilmember Nicholas O’Rourke gave a progressive rebuttal for the national Working Families Party.

And Biden’s next public audience will be with supporters in the Philadelphia suburbs, a key region for his reelection prospects. He is set to hold a rally Friday at Strath Haven Middle School in Wallingford.

This year’s State of the Union was the most closely scrutinized of his presidency as he tries to jump-start his reelection campaign and curb concerns over his age. It was a forceful but at times folksy delivery from Biden, 81, who made frequent mentions of “his predecessor,” former President Donald Trump, 77, who is poised to face Biden in a rematch in November.

“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” Biden said, . “... Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”

Biden cast Trump as a threat to democracy and himself as a champion of the middle class, raised in Scranton and then Claymont, Del., a state he started representing in the Senate at the age of 29.

“In my career I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old,” he said. “Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. Our North Star. The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.”

He gave one of the only named shout-outs to a member of Congress to Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), telling Congress to pass a bill Casey has aimed at cracking down on corporations shrinking products without reducing prices. Casey, a fellow Scranton native, is also up for reelection this year.

“Snack companies think you won’t notice when they charge you just as much for the same size bag, but with fewer chips in it” Biden said. “Pass Bobby Casey’s bill and stop shrinkflation.”

In a “prebuttal,” released by Trump’s campaign, the former president called Biden “feeble.” He said Biden was a failure on border security and mocked his dismissal of economic concerns by blaming greedy corporations.

“‘Shrinkflation’ — the term he uses — is one of the most ridiculous things this country has ever seen,” Trump said. “Shrinkflation is just another way of saying inflation— it means that you’re losing a lot of money because these people don’t know what they’re doing.”

Biden touted his administration’s achievements on infrastructure, job creation, and health care. He stressed the gains the nation has made since the pandemic and seemed to acknowledge the disconnect between positive economic signals and how inflation has left most Americans feeling largely sour on the economy.

“It doesn’t make the news, but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told,” he said. “So let’s tell that story here and now.”

Parker, who is poised to be a key surrogate for Biden in Pennsylvania this election, was ready to tell that story for the president. In an interview shortly before Biden spoke, the Philadelphia mayor said she’s seen firsthand how his administration has benefited Philadelphia.

“I have only been mayor for 65 days and in during those 65 days I have announced more than $300 million in contributions that have funneled into the city,” she said. “It doesn’t happen without President Biden and his leadership.”

Still, she said, it’s incumbent on Biden’s allies to translate that message to voters.

“We have to make a connection between those dollars and the people in those neighborhoods,” said Parker, who has quickly developed a national profile since becoming the city’s first female mayor. “Pennsylvania is essential. Philadelphia is key. No one will win Pennsylvania without coming through Philadelphia.”

Parker attended the annual address as the guest of U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.). She spent the afternoon at the Capitol meeting with the Pennsylvania delegation and Democratic leadership.

It followed a tragic two weeks of violence in Philadelphia, that included a shooting of eight high school students near a SEPTA bus stop on Wednesday.

Biden, in his address, slammed Trump for bragging to NRA members at a speech in Harrisburg last month that he “did nothing,” to advance pushes for gun control even as multiple mass shootings killed Americans during his presidency.

As Biden spoke, invited guests throughout the chamber helped bolster the themes of his speech.

He pledged to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land in a chamber where many Democratic women wore white in support of abortion rights.

“In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote: ‘Women are not without electoral or political power,’” Biden said. He added that those bragging about overturning Roe, “have no clue about the power of women in America. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024.”

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D., Pa.), who is the lead sponsor of a bill to protect in vitro fertilization, brought a constituent from her Lehigh Valley district, Christie Nicas, of Bethlehem, who had her two children using IVF.

The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, who live in Fishtown, also attended as the guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.). Gershkovich has been detained in Russia since last March.

In Philadelphia, about 70 carpenters and other Biden supporters filled a large conference room at the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters building on Spring Garden Street to watch the speech and eat pizza. Sean Fox, a carpenter, said he supports whoever the union supports.

”I’m here to support Biden because Biden has supported us,” he said. “He’s given money for infrastructure, which puts food on my table.”

Following the address, Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) called Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” in the Republican rebuttal. The first-term Alabama Republican and the youngest woman in the Senate argued that “the country we know and love seems to be slipping away.” She also voiced support for IVF in an effort to hit back against Biden’s criticism of the GOP on the issue.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, O’Rourke introduced himself as the proud son of a truck driver and a telephone operator and implored Biden to listen to the progressive wing’s cries.

He praised Biden on some economic policy, but criticized the president over his support for Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza.

“Wars in Palestine and Trump-era immigration policies are out of step with our values and endangering the coalition that elected you,” O’Rourke said in prepared remarks. “...But, here is the good news: there’s still time for you to unite that coalition — if you heed the calls from the people.”

Cease-fire protesters in Washington unsuccessfully tried to block Biden’s path to the Capitol.

One of the major announcements in Biden’s speech was a directive to the U.S. military to construct a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid.

O’Rourke also stressed the need to be “clear-eyed about who Trump’s Republican Party is.”

“Trump’s MAGA movement must be defeated,” he said. “But our commitment to opposing Republicans must not blind us to where the Democratic administration continues to fall short.”

Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.