A8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 , 2022
STATE OF THE UNIONBY MATT VISER
AND MARIANNA SOTOMAYORThe State of the Union this
year at times had a feel of the
State of Ukraine.
The House chamber was filled
with blue and yellow hues, with
women in dresses and scarfs and
with men wearing bright ties and
ribbons on their lapels, honoring
the colors of the Ukrainian flag
and providing an evocative im-
age of the type of American
support that President Biden
highlighted in his remarks.
The House chaplain wore a
Ukrainian-blue blouse. Rep. Bri-
an Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who
worked in Kyiv as an FBI agent,
handed out Ukrainian flags
while Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.),
whose district has a strong
Ukrainian American community,
distributed blue and yellow rib-
bons.
Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s
ambassador to the United States,
looked down on the House floor,
a guest of first lady Jill Biden,
who had a sunflower, the nation-
al flower of Ukraine, sewn to the
sleeve of her dress. And the
lead-up to the president’s most
anticipated speech each year was
dominated not by what was hap-
pening in Washington but by a
convoy of Russian tanks in
Ukraine.
“Let each of us here tonight in
this chamber send an unmistak-
able signal to Ukraine and to the
world,” Biden said early in his
remarks. “Please rise if you are
able and show that yes, we the
United States of America stand
with the Ukrainian people.”
In a country that has few
unifying moments, members
from both sides of the aisle
repeatedly stood and applauded
together in support of Ukraine,
or when he announced that the
United States was closing its
airspace to Russian planes.
Biden delivered the remarks
in the third year of covid-19, a
week into a European ground
war, and a year after rioters
attacked the U.S. Capitol just
before he took office.
If last year marked the colli-
sion of the rituals of democracy
and the pandemic that gripped
much of American life, this year
illustrated a return, however
haltingly, to an attempt at some
kind of normalcy.
It showed that Congress, like
most of the country, is eager to
move past the pandemic. Few
wore masks, even in a room
where some Republican mem-
bers have been fined thousands
for not wearing masks in the
past, in violation of previous
policies.
“Last year covid-19 kept us
apart,” Biden said. “This year we
are finally together again.”
But despite the opening mo-
ments of unity for an ally under
attack and the waning presence
of the pandemic in the chamber,
the political tensions and fis-
sures in the nation were still
evident. When Vice President
Harris walked into the room, few
Republicans applauded.
When Biden criticized a $
trillion tax cut passed under
President Donald Trump, he got
loud jeers from Republicans — at
history.
At the beginning of his speech
last year, Biden noted the histor-
ic nature of having two women in
the immediate frame behind
him. But in one indication of its
normalcy, it went unremarked
upon this year.
Last year, both Harris and
Pelosi — along with everyone in
the chamber — were wearing
masks, in compliance with covid
protocols. In one visible symbol
of the rapidly shifting pandemic
policies, members of Congress
were not required to wear masks
this year. They were required to
test ahead of time, which pre-
vented at least three members —
Reps. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.)
and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.)
and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) —
from attending after they tested
positive.
Earlier in the day, Pelosi said
that she didn’t plan to wear a
mask, saying it was up to every-
one to make their own judg-
ments.
“If I had little children or if I
were around little grandchil-
dren, I would, because some of
them would not be vaccinated,”
Pelosi said on MSNBC. She
would also wear a mask if she
had a condition that made her
“susceptible” to the coronavirus.
In a memo Sunday night, Bri-
an Monahan, Congress’s attend-
ing physician, told lawmakers
that mask-wearing “is now an
individual choice option.” A
mask mandate for many indoor
places issued by D.C. Mayor Mu-
riel E. Bowser (D) was also lifted
on Tuesday.
Most in the chamber chose not
to wear masks, a rare sight over
the past two years. But even the
limited covid protections still inplace were a source of some
tension. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-
Fla.) said that he was too busy to
get tested ahead of time, so he
did not attend the speech.
“Let’s stop seeing each other
as enemies and start seeing each
other for who we really are:
Fellow Americans,” Biden said,
getting applause from both sides
of the aisle. “We can’t change
how divided we’ve been. But we
can change how we move for-
ward — on covid-19 and other
issues we must face together.”
The chamber this year was far
fuller than it was last year, when
it had a small fraction of the
1,600 people normally in attend-
ance.
Congressional members who
attended were assigned seats in
the chamber, an atypical sight in
what is often a free-for-all for the
best aisle seats, with the best
visibility in home districts and
the best opportunity to greet the
president. Still, most members
were spaced apart, with empty
seats between many of them.
Most members could not in-
vite guests, but Jill Biden had a
viewing box that included sec-
ond gentleman Doug Emhoff
and Valerie Biden Owens, the
president’s sister.
The White House also brought
nearly a dozen other guests
whom Biden pointed to during
the speech, including Joshua Da-
vis of Midlothian, Va., a seventh-
grader and advocate for people
with diabetes; Refynd Duro of
Galloway, Ohio, a nurse who has
been treating covid-19 patients;
and Frances Haugen of Iowa City,
a former Facebook lead product
manager on civic misinforma-
tion.
Last year, the mood in thebuilding was still raw after the
Jan. 6, 2021, riots. Now, trials are
beginning for some of those who
participated, and congressional
investigations are ongoing.
There was still a heavy security
presence, with the Secret Service
and other federal and local au-
thorities ready for possible dem-
onstrations and disruptions
ahead of the speech.
But a rally that was held to
protest pandemic-related re-
strictions — one that was based
on the “Freedom Convoy” that
occupied downtown Ottawa for
weeks — drew only a few dozen
people on Tuesday afternoon.
Biden’s attempts to strike a
moderate tone and policy ap-
proach often drew muted ap-
plause, but his comments about
policing stood out as a moment
that may resonate beyond Tues-
day night.
At one point, he mentioned
police funding, weighing in on a
debate that his party had over
how to address police violence
and shootings that were often
directed at Black men.
“We should all agree: The
answer is not to defund the
police,” Biden said. “The answer
is to fund the police with the
resources and training they need
to protect our communities.”
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a
leading advocate for overhauling
police practices, pointed with
displeasure to her shirt display-
ing the blocky number 18,000,
which her spokeswoman said
was meant to represent the num-
ber of federal clemency petitions
currently languishing.
Greene stood in a rare mo-
ment of support for something
Biden said.
“That’s right!” she yelled.Support for Ukraine brings moments of unity in chamber
JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST
Democrats greet President Biden after he delivered his first State of the Union address. Lawmakers were not required to wear masks this year, but they did have to be tested.Lawmakers also show
eagerness to move past
coronavirus pandemicwhich point Senate Majority
Leader Charles E. Schumer
(D-N.Y.) stood to applaud, awk-
wardly, before other Democrats
joined him. When Biden touted
the infrastructure package that
passed last year, the Republicans
who voted for it stood while
many others remained seated.
Sen. Joe Manchin III, the con-
servative Democrat from West
Virginia who has derailed some
of the Biden administration’s top
priorities, sat on the Republican
side. At times he would stand
alone to applaud Democratic
policies. But it was also obvious
when he didn’t stand with his
party, when Biden called for
passing the child tax credit or
when he spoke at length about
his remedies for inflation.
Some in the chamber — in-
cluding Reps. Marjorie Taylor
Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boe-
bert (R-Colo.) — seemed to mock
the president as he spoke, laugh-
ing at some lines, mouthing
retorts at others, and tweeting in
real time. “Here’s another way to
fight inflation,” Boebert wrote on
Twitter. “Resign.”
As Biden made a reference to
troops who had served in Iraq
and Afghanistan — and beenexposed to toxic chemicals and
“a cancer that would put them in
a flag-draped coffin” — Boebert
screamed, “You put them there.
Thirteen of them!” It was an
apparent reference to the 13 U.S.
troops who were killed amid the
chaotic withdrawal of Afghani-
stan last year.
Democrats began booing and
one shouted, “Kick her out!”
It was a moment when Biden
was referring to his support for
providing coverage for troops
who served in areas that had
burn pits, exposing them to toxic
chemicals that can cause cancer.
He has long believed that the
death of his son Beau may have
been caused by his military serv-
ice near burn pits in Iraq and
Kosovo.
Biden on Tuesday night again
had the image of how significant-
ly political representation is
shifting, with two women seated
behind him: House Speaker Nan-
cy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Harris. It
would presumably be the last
time that Justice Stephen G.
Breyer would sit in the chamber
as a Supreme Court justice, and,
if Biden’s nominee is confirmed,
next year in his spot will be the
first Black female justice in U.S.“We can’t change how divided we’ve been. But wecan change how we move forward — on covid-and other issues we must face together.”
President BidenS0141 6xStay one step ahead of the weather with theCapital Weather Gang@capitalweatherwashingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gangsweater or tank top?