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President Biden strived with Tuesday night’s State of the Union address to find a plank of bipartisan support in a split Congress, with health care priorities holding up the frame. The president, halfway through his term, pointed to a slew of populist policies he still hopes Congress could achieve, from battling the addiction crisis to improving mental health care access and bolstering support for at-home caregivers. (Owermohle and Wilkerson, 2/7)

The president presented himself as a populist with ideas to help blue-collar workers and restore America’s manufacturing might. He went after big drug companies and big energy companies. More than once he threatened vetoes of possible Republican initiatives and declared that he would not allow the economy to be held hostage over raising the debt ceiling. “Let’s finish the job,” he said in a refrain repeated over and over as he ticked through accomplishments of his first two years in office and offered new proposals. If not the start of a reelection campaign, it was as close as a State of the Union could be to that kickoff. (Balz, 2/7)

The president sought to explain to the public how they stand to benefit from the trillions of dollars in spending Mr. Biden helped shepherd through Congress—including a wide-ranging infrastructure bill; a climate, healthcare, prescription-drug and tax package; and a measure to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. He argued that his policies have helped the U.S. economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic—pointing to recent positive economic news, including that the unemployment rate is at a 53-year low. “Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible. Maybe that’s you watching at home,” Mr. Biden said. “I get that. That’s why we’re building an economy where no one is left behind.” (Restuccia and Parti, 2/8)

Biden’s speech began as a promise to play nice with newly empowered House Republicans. Things then went stunningly off-script as GOP jeering escalated throughout the roughly 75 minutes, drowning out some of the president’s biggest moments and foreshadowing a long two years to come under divided government. ... Other parts of Biden’s remarks, though, went just as expected. He received standing ovations on bipartisan issues like support for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving. (Ferris, Everett and hill, 2/7)

The president’s first major encounter with the newly empowered House Republicans featured stark moments of unscripted drama the likes of which were rarely seen during State of the Union addresses of the past. When he mentioned the fentanyl crisis, introducing a father who lost a daughter to an overdose, some Republicans heckled him over drugs entering the country. “The border! The border!” some shouted. “It’s your fault!” At another point, Mr. Biden engaged in a remarkable spontaneous colloquy with Republicans when he accused them of threatening Social Security and Medicare, an assertion that drew some of them to their feet as they rejected the assertion loudly and angrily. At least one of them shouted, “Bullshit!” (Baker, 2/7)

President Biden delivered his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday to a joint session of Congress. The following is a transcript of his remarks, as recorded by The New York Times. (2/8)

Mr. Biden’s speech contained no outright falsehoods, but at times omitted crucial context or exaggerated the facts. Here’s a fact check. (2/8)

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders painted a dystopian portrait of the country in her rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, leaning heavily into Republican culture war issues and accusing Biden of pursuing “woke fantasies.” Speaking from the governor’s mansion in Little Rock, Sanders sounded a lot like her former boss, Donald Trump, as she warned of a nation whose ideals are under attack and whose citizens are fighting for their freedoms. (DeMillo, 2/8)