North country's Republicans expectedly disappointed by Biden's State of the Union

Mar. 7—WASHINGTON — Republicans representing the north country in Congress have expectedly expressed disappointment in President Joseph R. Biden's State of the Union address, saying there was little redeemable about his Thursday night speech.

Biden delivered to Congress a politically-focused speech that sought to address some of the issues he polls weak on, like the border, public safety and the economy. He appeared to lay out much of what he will focus on in his reelection campaign, and made 13 individual references to former President Donald J. Trump, his predecessor and main competition in the race for reelection.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., brought Andrii Chevozorov, a 25-year old Ukrainian junior lieutenant, who lost his leg in a landmine explosion. Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y,, brought Billie Jean King, former women's tennis champion and vocal advocate for gender equality. Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul was in attendance, the first New York governor in recent history to attend the State of the Union. She was brought by Rep. Adriano J. Espalliat, D-Manhattan.

Congress members who attend the event take guests, typically meant to deliver some sort of political point.

Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, brought Brandon Budlong, a border patrol agent from Theresa, Jefferson County, and president of the local chapter of the National Border Patrol Council.

Stefanik said in an interview after the event that she was disappointed, saying Biden's speech was the most partisan, least effective State of the Union address she had ever seen.

"This was a failed president, with a failed record, and the White House desperately wanted this to be a reset," Stefanik said.

She said the members of her party shared her surprise at the partisan nature of the speech, and found only one redeeming point in the entire address.

"I believe the call for all the hostages to be returned home, that was a moment of bipartisanship, but that was it," she said, referring to Biden's pledge to continue working on the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

She reiterated she could not support the bipartisan border bill Biden spoke of, and said it was a "non-starter." She said the only path to action on the border would be for the president and Senate Democrats to support the House Republican border bill, which is much more conservative, restricting the asylum process, expanding surveillance to freeze migration and cracking down on the existing undocumented population, as well as building another 900 miles of border wall.

On Ukrainian aid, Stefanik said she has concerns, driven by a report that about a billion dollars in defense aid can't be tracked after it was given to Ukraine. She said she supports aid to Israel, and said Biden was off the mark when he threatened to veto an Israel-only aid package. She said the Republicans in the House will continue to promote defense aid for Israel.

Rep. Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland, brought Anna Corbett, from Livingston County in western New York. Corbett's husband Ryan has been imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan since August 2022, and Corbett has testified before Congress and made pleas for federal assistance on freeing her husband.

In an interview after the speech, Tenney said she was very disappointed by the tone and content of Biden's presentation, and said she found very little, if anything, to be redeeming in the speech.

"It was much more divisive and aggressive than I thought it would be," she said. "A lot of yelling, screaming, there were only a couple of times that Republicans were not being criticized and attacked."

She said she felt Biden was completely wrong in his position on crime, where he argued there has been an improvement. She said her own staff in the Capitol, who live in Washington, D.C., have been threatened and met with violence.

She said his decision to directly address the Supreme Court justices in attendance was inappropriate, and thought the tone in general did nothing to advance the bipartisanship Biden claims to support.

She discounted Biden's argument that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a major, negative event in American history, and said she thought the speech was the completely wrong tone for a president with low poll numbers to deliver in an election year.

"I'm just getting bombed on my phone by people who are very disappointed, I have lots of Democrat friends, independent friends, and one friend who's a Democrat, been a lifelong friend, said this was just bad," she said. "This was bad."

She said the only positive spin she could think to put on the speech was that she thinks it gave Republicans a strong argument for reelecting Trump in November.