Issued February 07, 2023
WASHINGTON – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s State of the Union address:
“Working people should feel tremendous pride in the progress we’ve made together under the leadership of President Joe Biden. In the space of just two years, we’ve gone from the depths of the pandemic in which essential workers were forced to fend for themselves in unsafe workplaces to making vaccines widely available and creating 12 million new jobs, many of them good union jobs. We’ve passed major legislation to address climate change, lower prescription drug costs and protect pregnant and postpartum workers, and even confirmed the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
We’re not going to stand by as Congressional Republicans put all this progress at risk by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, threatening Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Working people aren’t fooled. We know that many of these same Republicans playing political games with our lives are the ones who voted in favor of raising the debt ceiling to pass Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. It’s never been clearer who’s standing with us and who’s willing to sell out our future to the highest bidder.
Our work to create an inclusive economy in which every person, regardless of their race, zip code or where they’re from, is far from over. We agree with President Biden – let’s get the job done. We continue to fight for massive investments in care workers, to raise the minimum wage and make sure no one is left out, and to create a pathway to citizenship for all immigrant workers and their families. As we continue to fight to win unions for all workers and our communities attempt to heal from incessant gun violence, police violence and systemic racism, President Biden and the White House have our backs. It’s time for Congress and corporations to follow suit.”