Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that it is important that President Biden communicates in the State of the Union on Thursday directly to the American people about the administration’s accomplishments and future plans.
Buttigieg said this year’s State of the Union, the third of Mr. Biden’s presidency as he looks ahead of the likely November rematch with former President Donald Trump, gives Mr. Biden an opportunity to underscore the positive impacts of his policies.
“This is a chance for the president to talk about the strides that our economy has made under his leadership, adding more jobs than any president ever,” Buttigieg told “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil. “It’s a chance to talk about how things like the bipartisan infrastructure law that he led are now leading to improvements to roads, bridges and more in every part of this country. Issue after issue where we’ve got to talk about what we’ve done and where we’re headed. I’m looking forward to the president making that case this evening.”
Despite inflation outpacing wage growth, Buttigieg credited Mr. Biden for helping wages grow and keeping inflation lower than in the world’s other leading economies.
“Right now, wages are growing faster than prices,” Buttigieg said. “It takes awhile to feel that, for sure, and different households are in different circumstances. That’s why the president has been so focused on lowering costs for everyday life.”
Another topic likely to come up in the State of the Union is reproductive rights and in vitro fertilization in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs decision and the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are considered children. Mr. Biden has called that decision “outrageous and unacceptable,” and among first lady Jill Biden’s guests on Thursday will be an Alabama woman whose IVF treatment was halted after the February decision and Kate Cox, a Texas woman who had to travel out-of-state to receive an abortion her doctors said was medically necessary.
Buttigieg said that concerns over IVF treatments “shouldn’t be up to politicians in the first place.”
“Alabama is the first place where IVF started to be blocked. It won’t be the last, and this has been the agenda of congressional Republicans for as long as I’ve been alive. I personally believe that the question of when life begins is a theological or moral or philosophical question, not to be decided by politicians, but that the decisions — especially decisions about a pregnancy — should be made by women,” said Buttigieg.
“I trust women to make those decisions, so does the president, and he is going to make that clear tonight,” Buttigieg said. “And like most Americans, believe that is something to be decided by families an their doctor. Not politicians around here.”
