Biden to Push Economic Message After Rowdy State of the Union Speech

The president reiterated his message during a visit to the Laborers’ International Union of North America training center in DeForest, Wis., to discuss manufacturing industry jobs. The stop in a battleground state comes ahead of his expected launch of a re-election campaign in March or April.

“The economy has grown at a solid clip,” Mr. Biden said in Wisconsin. “Folks, I hate to disappoint, but the Biden economic plan is working.”

Although he pointed to possible areas of bipartisan compromise as part of his “unity agenda” during the joint address to Congress, the challenge of a divided government, with a newly emboldened GOP majority, was on display as the two parties look to reach agreement on spending levels and raising the debt ceiling. 

Mr. Biden was interrupted several times on Tuesday by Republican lawmakers. One GOP representative was caught on camera calling the president a liar in response to the president’s comments on a GOP proposal on Medicare and Social Security. The criticism of the plan led to a heated ad-libbed exchange between Mr. Biden and the Republican hecklers.

“They sure didn’t like me calling them on it,” he said, mocking Republicans by adding their outbursts equated to the playground taunt, “Liar, liar house on fire.”

“When I called them out on it, it sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table,” Mr. Biden added. “Looks like we negotiated a deal last night on the floor of the House of Representatives.”

Some Republicans have also criticized members of their party for Tuesday’s interruptions.

“I wish that everyone would respect the decorum and let the president speak,” Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) said on MSNBC after the speech. 

Rep.

Ryan Zinke

(R., Mont.) said on CNN on Wednesday that he took issue with some of Mr. Biden’s claims, but he disagreed with the tone set by his colleagues who heckled him: “He is the president…We can agree, we can disagree, but let’s not be disagreeable because we are one country.”

Other Republicans sought to compare the heckling of Mr. Biden to then-Speaker

Nancy Pelosi

(D., Calif.) ripping up a copy of former President Donald Trump’s speech as he wrapped up his third State of the Union in 2020. 

Democrats plan to point to the heckling to argue that House Speaker

Kevin McCarthy

(R., Calif.) has no control over his caucus, people familiar with the matter said. Ahead of the address, Mr. McCarthy urged House Republicans to be respectful and he could be seen at times shushing his colleagues as they shouted at the president. 

Asked about the GOP interruptions, Mr. McCarthy said in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” that Mr. Biden had tried to “goad the members” and used Social Security and Medicare as a political ploy.

“But the one thing we need to be is, we need to be smart,” he said. “He’s trying to play politics with the debt ceiling by not negotiating, by lying about our position. I want to be responsible. I want to be sensible.”

Mr. Biden has said that he won’t negotiate on raising the debt ceiling but would be willing to have a separate discussion about spending levels. Republicans point out that past presidents have often negotiated on the debt ceiling and that Mr. Biden did so as vice president during the Obama administration.

House Majority Leader

Steve Scalise

(R., La.) said on Twitter that Mr. Biden was “living in an alternate universe. Families can’t afford gas or food—and they feel unsafe in their communities.”

In the days leading up to the speech, White House officials said they hoped to use the address to draw a contrast with Republicans by making the case that the GOP’s agenda would damage the U.S. economy. Mr. Biden’s advisers believe the outbursts from Republican lawmakers helped bolster their point, according to administration officials. 

The most vocal objections from Republicans came during a portion of Mr. Biden’s speech in which the president accused some in the GOP of supporting a plan to sunset Medicare and Social Security, the bedrock safety-net programs. Amid loud groans from Republicans, Rep.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

(R., Ga.) shouted, “Liar!”

Ms. Greene, who emerged as an ally of Mr. McCarthy during his campaign for speaker, amplified her criticism in a video posted to her Twitter after the speech.

“Either he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or he’s just flat out lying,” she said. 

The incident was reminiscent of an outburst by Rep.

Joe Wilson

(R., S.C.) during President Barack Obama’s 2009 address to a joint session of Congress. “You lie,” Mr. Wilson said. He was later formally reprimanded by the House. 

Two GOP leadership aides said they don’t expect any public admonishment of Tuesday’s hecklers, reflecting the change in political decorum in Washington over the past 15 years. Republicans have noted Democrats made no move to admonish Mrs. Pelosi in 2020.

White House officials said Mr. Biden was referring to a policy plan released last year by Sen.

Rick Scott,

a Florida Republican, that included a proposal to sunset all federal legislation every five years and require Congress to pass each law again. That provision has received little support from other Republicans, and Mr. Scott wrote on Twitter after the speech that he wants to protect the programs. He is also airing an ad ahead of Mr. Biden’s visit to Florida on Thursday, attacking him on the issue and calling on him to resign. 

Mr. Biden read from Mr. Scott’s plan during his stop in Wisconsin along with other quotes from GOP lawmakers who have called for changes to Medicare and Social Security. “A lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” he said. “Well, let me just say this, it’s your dream, but I’m going to have my veto pen make it a nightmare.”

As lawmakers shouted over him on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden quipped that everybody in the room now agreed that policy makers shouldn’t target Social Security and Medicare. Mr. McCarthy has said his party won’t reduce funding for Medicare and Social Security, and other Republicans said the same Tuesday night.

House Republicans have called for massive spending cuts and deficit reduction in exchange for raising the debt limit, but they haven’t yet released a detailed proposal outlining their proposed cuts. 

— Natalie Andrews contributed to this article.

Write to Tarini Parti at [email protected] and Andrew Restuccia at [email protected]