Arizona Rep. Tom O’Halleran speaks out about Pres. Biden’s State of the Union address

On Tuesday, March 1, President Biden gave his first State of the Union address. A few highlights included remarks about Russia invading Ukraine, the current state of the pandemic in the U.S. and how we are recovering, as well as new economic opportunities coming to the U.S. to combat the country’s reliance on Chinese imports. We spoke with Arizona Representative Tom O’Halleran for more on Biden’s State of the Union.

“It went well,” O’Halleran said, “I enjoyed it.”

The start of Biden’s address covered what O’Halleran called the “tragedy” in Ukraine. He reinforced Biden’s points about NATO.

“NATO allies are working very hard to address the issues as best as we can. And over time, we will address the needs of Ukrainian people and the safety of the whole world.”

He said we need to highlight the extent of this impact on our world and economy; to make sure the American public clearly understood. “We are in this together,” he stated.

He said people may disagree about a few issues here and there, but in the larger context, he said we are in this together.

O’Halleran said he hopes Biden was speaking to Republicans as well as Democrats, specifically in some partisan areas such as police reform. He said we’re all part of America and Republicans need to know how the President feels about different issues.

With a background as a former police officer, O’Halleran said he was glad Biden spoke about funding the police as the solution, and not defunding them.

He said there needs to be some level of reform in some police departments, mostly addressing issues exposed over the last couple of years. However, he said most of police reform includes adjusting the training so we do not repeat our mistakes. He also said the justice system itself needs to be reformed to prevent repetition.

He was proud to hear that Biden agrees that police are part of the answer.