The president has also made the case for a broad green-energy initiative as part of his infrastructure and jobs plan, in a bid to restructure the economy for years to come.
Members of his party looked for him to address health care as a priority during the speech. His recent proposals lack a Medicare expansion and other health-care initiatives pushed by several key Democrats. But he made a push Wednesday night for increasing Medicare's power to negotiate drug prices.
Biden also touched on racial justice as the country contends with new instances of police violence against Black people as well as the aftermath of the Derek Chauvin trial. Chauvin, a former police officer in Minneapolis, was found guilty last week in the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd last year. On Wednesday, he called for Congress to pass police reform before the anniversary of Floyd's death at the end of next month.