How Biden’s State of the Union footage compares to previous speeches
President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address was his longest. The comments this year clocked in at 72 minutes, a full 10 minutes longer than he spoke in March 2022.
State of the Union addresses have gotten longer over the years. Former President Donald Trump’s longest speech — in 2019 — lasted 82 minutes. His shortest, in 2020, was 78 minutes long. By comparison, former President Barack Obama’s longest speech lasted 69 minutes.
Biden covered a lot of ground in his remarks on Tuesday. He praised his administration’s efforts to grow the economy, demanded more action to combat the climate crisis and called on Congress to complete work on a draft police reform bill. While the president chided Republicans for threatening cuts to Social Security and Medicare and for trying to negotiate the debt ceiling, he also invited the GOP to work with Democrats.
“You know, we’re often told that Democrats and Republicans can’t work together,” Biden said. “Over the past two years, we have proven the cynics and naysayers wrong. Yes, we often disagreed. And yes, there were times when Democrats [were] only. But time and time and time again Democrats and Republicans came together.”