Calling the state of the union “strong,” Trump took credit for the nation’s good economy. He attributed stock market, job and wage gains to his administration’s regulation rollbacks and policies that, “ended the war on American energy” and “turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals.” He received a standing ovation from Republicans when he spoke about the recently passed $1.5 trillion tax bill he signed in December – a bill he said has already brought “tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses.”
Trump was booed by Democrats when he spoke of limiting the long-standing policy of family migration whereby immigrants who become U.S. citizens can apply to bring their relatives into the country. He calls it “chain migration” and wants to limit it to spouses and minor children.
Trump called for bipartisan action on his immigration plan which, in addition to limiting family migration, would offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers, fund construction of a southern border wall, and move away from a lottery-based immigration system to a merit-based one.
WATCH Collins, Cagle react to SOTU
The president also urged Democrats to join him in approving a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan and adjust regulations to move projects through. “Any bill must also streamline the permitting and approval process — getting it down to no more than two years, and perhaps even one. “America is a nation of builders,” he said. “We built the Empire State Building in just one year. Isn’t it a disgrace that it can now take 10 years just to get a permit approved for a simple road?”
While Trump struck a bipartisan tone at times, there were times he played directly to his base. Republicans loudly applauded when he declared that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act had been repealed (through tax reform). Trump invoked fear when he spoke of the violent MS13 gang and “other criminals who used “deadly loopholes” to “break into our country.”
The president laid out what he deemed one of his “greatest priorities”, reducing the price of prescription drugs. “In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. That is why I have directed my Administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities. Prices will come down,” the president said.
Throughout his 80 minute speech – the third longest State of the Union speech in the last 50 years – the president stuck close to his script. For all the ground he covered, there was one glaring omission – the president did not address the ongoing Russia investigation.
