President Biden's State of the Union address

Addressing gun control, President Biden repeated his claim that “gun manufacturers (are) the only industry in America that can't be sued.” 

CNN has previously fact checked this claim. Here’s what we found:

Facts First: This is false. Gun manufacturers are not entirely exempt from being sued, nor are they the only industry with some liability protections. 

Under the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, gun manufacturers cannot be held liable for the use of their products in crimes. However, gun manufacturers can still be held liable for (and thus sued for) a range of things, including negligence, breach of contract regarding the purchase of a gun or certain damages from defects in the design of a gun. 

In 2019, the Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Remington Arms Co. to continue. The plaintiffs, a survivor and families of nine other victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, wanted to hold the company — which manufactured the semi-automatic rifle that was used in the killing — partly responsible by targeting the company’s marketing practices, another area where gun manufacturers can be held liable. On Feb. 15, those families reached a $73 million settlement with the now-bankrupt gun manufacturer and its four insurers. 

Other industries also have some exemptions from liability. For example, vaccine manufacturers cannot be held liable in a civil suit for damages from a vaccine-related injury or death. And for the next four years, pharmaceutical companies developing the Covid-19 vaccines will have immunity from liability under the 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. Those who claim to have been harmed by vaccines may receive money from the government, not the pharmaceutical company, via the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. 

President Biden’s remarks were briefly interrupted Tuesday when, during a portion of his State of the Union remarks, he paid tribute to members of the armed forces who were sickened by burn pits, including his son, Beau Biden, who died from brain cancer in 2015.

Biden’s comments were interrupted by GOP Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who audibly interrupted, “You put them there—13 of them” — an apparent reference to soldiers killed during the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Boebert was quickly shushed by lawmakers.

“One of those soldiers was my son Major Beau Biden. I don’t know for sure if the burn pit that he lived near, that his hooch was near in Iraq, and before that in Kosovo, is the cause of his brain cancer, the diseases of so many of our troops. But I’m committed to finding out everything we can.”

Boebert later tweeted about her outburst.

President Biden said in his address tonight: “We are giving more than $1 billion in direct assistance to Ukraine.” 

Facts First: This is true, but it needs context. The US has given more than $1 billion in total security assistance to Ukraine over the past year. While Biden administration officials have continued to send aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion six days ago, they are not giving the total $1 billion in assistance right now. 

The US has given more than $1 billion in total security assistance to Ukraine over the past year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Feb. 26. The US is not currently giving Ukraine $1 billion in aid, as the President stated in his speech. 

Blinken authorized the Defense Department to provide $60 million in immediate military assistance to Ukraine in the fall of 2021. In December, Blinken authorized an additional $200 million. After the invasion began, Blinken authorized a third aid package of $350 million for “immediate support to Ukraine’s defense,” Blinken said in the statement, bringing the total security assistance from the US to Ukraine “over the past year to more than $1 billion.” 

Biden administration officials have said they are continuing to send security assistance to Ukraine, even as the Russian invasion continues. 

US security assistance to Ukraine has continued to arrive, a senior defense official told reporters Monday. 

“It continues to arrive. and continues to get to them, including in just the last day or so,” the official said on a call with reporters. “We’re not going to talk about the specifics of how we get stuff in, so we can continue to get stuff in.” 

President Biden in his State of the Union address formally announced a Department of Justice chief prosecutor for pandemic related fraud declaring: “In my administration, the watchdogs are back.” 

Biden also took aim at the Trump administration for undercutting financial watchdogs, saying: “The previous Administration not only ballooned the deficit with those tax cuts for the very wealthy and corporations, it undermined the watchdogs. The job of those it was to keep pandemic relief funds from being wasted.”

Biden continued, “In my administration, the watchdogs are back.  We’re gonna go after the criminals who stole billions of relief money meant for small business and millions of Americans.”

The White House announced the new federal efforts to combat identity theft and criminal fraud in pandemic relief programs earlier Tuesday in a fact sheet.

Biden also touted the decrease in the deficit under his administration, saying by the end of this year “the deficit will be down to less than half what it was before I took office.”

“The only president ever to cut the deficit by more than one trillion dollars in a single year. Lowering your costs also means demanding more competition. I’m a capitalist, but capitalism without competition is not capitalism. Capitalism without competition is exploitation—and it drives up profits,” Biden added.

President Biden outlined his plan to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic during his State of the Union address, calling for a bipartisan “reset” from the polarization of the last two years as the nation begins the return to normal.

As CNN has reported, the administration is expected to announce its strategy for the next phase of the pandemic on Wednesday. 

Biden conceded that Covid-19 “has impacted every decision in our lives and the life of the nation” over the past two years, acknowledging the frustration and exhaustion as he said that the US is now “moving forward safely, back to — more normal routines.”

He said the US is in a “new moment” in the pandemic with cases coming down, touting new masking guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week.  

“Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, Covid-19 need no longer control our lives. I know some are talking about ‘living with Covid-19.’ But tonight, I say that we will never just accept living with Covid-19,” Biden said, pointing to four steps to “stay on guard.”

He reiterated the importance of vaccines and treatments, including Pfizer’s antiviral pill, announcing a new distribution initiative.

“We’re launching the ‘Test to Treat’ initiative so people can get tested at a pharmacy, and if they’re positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot at no cost,” he said to applause

Biden also said his administration’s scientists are “working hard” to get vaccines authorized for children under five years of age.

He also announced that Americans who ordered free Covid-19 tests from covidtests.gov will be able to order additional tests “starting next week.”

Biden also outlined efforts to prepare for new variants and called on Congress to provide funding for additional stockpiles of tests, masks, and pills, if needed. 

The President also touted efforts to vaccinate the world, including 475 million Covid-19 vaccine doses sent to 112 countries over the past year.

President Biden recognized outgoing US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer during his State of the Union on Tuesday.

"Justice Breyer, thank you for your service. Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said.

Breyer looked moved by the President's words, and only after Biden instructed, "Get up. Stand up. Let them see you," Breyer did stand, and mouthed the words "Thank You," repeatedly.

Watch the moment:

President Biden described his nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, for the Supreme Court as a "consensus builder" during his State of the Union speech tonight.

As President Biden was discussing the border and immigration during his State of the Union remarks, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were heard chanting "Build the Wall."

As members in the chamber gave him a standing ovation, Greene and Boebert began chanting "Build the Wall."

President Biden said communities shouldn't have to "choose between safety and equal justice" when it comes to policing.

The President noted that the American Rescue Plan includes "$350 billion that cities, states, and counties can use to hire more police and invest in more proven strategy," like community violence interruption and other groups "breaking the cycle of violence and trauma, giving young people some hope." 

He continued: "We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police."