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CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It's been characterized as a type of political Super Bowl in the United States. The president's annual message to Congress and the opposing party's response, we're covering both in today's show. I'm Carl Azuz.
Last night, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his first annual message to a joint session of Congress. As we mentioned earlier this week, this wasn't technically a State of the Union address though it has many of the same elements and traditions. When a president does this for the first time, the thinking goes is that the leader hasn't been in office long enough to be an authority on the actual state of the union.
So annual message is the term used to describe this kind of speech. It's still done in person. It's traditionally done in front of U.S. Senators and Representatives and their guests, members of the president's cabinet, members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The president doesn't just discuss the status of where things are, the speech is a chance for the leader to lay out a vision for the country in the year ahead.
It's televised and shown online. It's covered in the news for days afterward. And all of this has grown out of sentence in the U.S. Constitution that says quote, "he shall from time to time, give to the Congress information on the state of the union and recommend to their considerations such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient".
According to the House of Representatives, President Biden's speech last night was the 98th time a U.S. leader delivered an address like this in person. We don't have a word count on it yet though these speeches can average around 5,000 to 6,000.
The shortest was President George Washington's in 1790. It had fewer than 1,100 words. The longest written speech was President Jimmy Carter's in 1981. It had more than 33,000 words. So what words did President Biden use to discuss what he judges necessary and expedient. Here are some highlights from his annual message.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One hundred days since I took oath of office and lifted my hand off our family Bible and inherited a nation, we all did, that was in crisis. The worst pandemic in a century. Fourth economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again.
American's Job Plan will add millions of jobs and trillions of dollars to economic growth in the years to come. It is a — it is a eight-year program. These are good paying jobs that can't be outsourced. Nearly 90 percent of the infrastructure jobs created in American Jobs Plan do not require a college degree.
I'm the first president in 40 years that knows what it means to have a son serving in a war zone. Today we have service members serving in the same war zones as their parents did. We have service members in Afghanistan who were not yet born on 9/11.
The War in Afghanistan as we remember the debates here, were never meant to be multi-generational undertakings of nation building. We went to Afghanistan to get terrorists. The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve.
To root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system and to enact police reform in George Floyd's name. The very moment our adversaries were certain we'd pull apart and fail, we came together, we united. With light and hope, we summoned a new strength, new resolve to position us to win the competition of the 21st century, on our way to a union more perfect, more prosperous and more just, as one people, one nation and one America.
Folks, as I've told every world leader I've ever met with over the years. It's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against American and it still isn't. We're the United States of America. There's not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. We can do whatever set our mind to if we do it together. So let's begin to get together. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you for your patience.
