State of the Union highlights and analysis: Biden touts economic wins, spars with Republicans

That's all, folks! During Biden's nearly 73-minute speech, he said the word “folks," a known favorite of his, at least 21 times.

“Folks, the story of America is a story of progress and resilience,” he said early in his remarks. “Of always moving forward. Of never, ever giving up. It’s a story unique among our nations. We’re the only country that’s emerged from every crisis we’ve ever entered stronger than we got into it. Look, folks, that’s what we’re doing again."

In a show of bipartisanship after their first big meeting together, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., applauded at least 40 times during Biden’s remarks, including joining 16 standing ovations during the substance of the speech (among them several for Biden's remarks about Tyre Nichols).

McCarthy also admonished his GOP colleagues who heckled Biden by either shushing them or mouthing “no” at least four times.

But McCarthy didn’t always keep a poker face: He shook his head as Biden spoke about the debt limit, accused the GOP of wanting to sunset Medicare and Social Security every five years and called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden argued Tuesday that his economic plan is working despite predictions of a recession by economists, a looming battle over paying the country’s debt and a nation that feels like it’s on shaky economic footing.

The economy played a prominent role in Biden’s State of the Union address with a message largely targeted at lower- and middle-income Americans as he made the case for boosting manufacturing jobs and buying more products made in America. He proposed raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans to help fund programs to lower health care and child care costs.

Biden was making the case for his administration’s handling of the economy to a largely skeptical audience. After having been battered by decades-high inflation for more than a year, consumer sentiment remains low by historic norms, and two-thirds of consumers said they expected an economic downturn this year, according to the University of Michigan’s latest consumer sentiment survey.

Read the full story here.

“As a mom, my heart breaks for every parent who has lost a son or daughter to addiction. 100,000 Americans a year now killed from drug overdoses, largely from fentanyl pouring across our southern border,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in the GOP rebuttal to Biden's speech.

Her numbers are correct, although U.S. drug overdoses increased at a faster pace under her former boss, President Donald Trump.

The latest government figures estimated that 107,622 people died from drug overdoses in 2021, an increase of 15% from the previous year. That rate was half the pace during Trump’s final year in office, when overdose deaths rose by 30% to 93,655 deaths from 2019. The majority of the overdose deaths under Trump and Biden were caused by fentanyl.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., criticized Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., over his attendance as he faces a series of investigations.

“Certainly the fact that he showed up to the State of the Union was questionable," Comer told NBC News' Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker.

The remark came in response to a question about a tense exchange between Santos and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, after which Romney suggested that Santos should have been seated "in the back row" Tuesday night.

Comer said he was told Santos was seen sitting on the aisle where he could be seen and drawn attention.

"The fact that he was wanting to be in the center of the limelight, it just makes no sense," Comer said. "He's crossed the line, obviously, and he certainly doesn't speak for the Republican Party, and we're very disappointed in George Santos."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., praised Biden for his remarks about police reform, saying it was "encouraging" and quite a difference from his speech last year.

"I was surprised by the president’s remarks and his focus on reform, were focused on justice," she said in an interview on MSNBC.

Ocasio-Cortez said his comments were a "long way from just a year ago, where it was really just about how much more money can we pile into these local departments in order to fix this issue."

"I also think it’s an acknowledgment of the fact that this isn’t really connected to funding much at all in terms of how we actually lower these instances of horrific violence in communities," she added. "And so, I thought it was encouraging."

Ocasio-Cortez added that people haven't heard a president do that in such a straightforward way in a long time or "ever in modern politics."

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., tweeted a photo Tuesday night of his son, Hodge, FaceTiming with Biden as he spoke with lawmakers and their guests after his address.

"FaceTimed with @POTUS. Goodnight! #HeyHodge #SOTU," tweeted Gomez, who was seen during the marathon votes for speaker last month carrying his infant son on the House floor.

Gomez also recently helped launch the Congressional Dads Caucus.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., said he wasn't a fan of the heckling some of his fellow Republicans lobbed at Biden.

“You should never do that sort of stuff," he said. "When he did come out and say the bit about we’re trying to cut Social Security, that drew a round of boos, and I thought that was pretty fair. But the catcalling I didn’t really like."

"I mean, I understand the frustration," LaMalfa said. "But it really isn’t how — in order to conduct the business of the institution — how we should do it.”