WASHINGTON —

Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.

Biden declared that he and all members of Congress, whatever their political differences, are joined “with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.” He asked the lawmakers crowding the House chamber to stand and salute the Ukrainians as he began his speech. They stood and cheered.

It was a notable show of unity after a long year of bitter acrimony between Biden’s Democratic coalition and the Republican opposition.

Biden’s 62-minute speech, which was split between attention to war abroad and worries at home — reflected the same balancing act he now faces in his presidency. He must marshal allied resolve against Russia’s aggression while tending to inflation, COVID-19 fatigue and sagging approval ratings heading into the midterm elections.

Biden highlighted the bravery of Ukrainian defenders and the commitment of a newly reinvigorated Western alliance that has worked to rearm the Ukrainian military and cripple Russia’s economy through sanctions. He warned of costs to the American economy, as well, but warned ominously that without consequences, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression wouldn’t be contained to Ukraine.

“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. “They keep moving. And, the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.”

As Biden spoke, Russian forces were escalating their attacks in Ukraine, having bombarded the central square of country’s second-biggest city and Kyiv’s main TV tower, killing at least five people. The Babi Yar Holocaust memorial was also damaged.

Biden announced that the U.S. is following Canada and the European Union in banning Russian planes from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. He also said the Justice Department was launching a task force to go after crimes of Russian oligarchs, whom he called “corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime.”

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said, pledging that the U.S. and European allies were coming after their yachts, luxury apartments and private jets.

“Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people," Biden said. "He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never weaken the resolve of the free world.”

Even before the Russian invasion sent energy costs skyrocketing, prices for American families had been rising, and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hurt families and the country’s economy.

Biden outlined plans to address inflation by reinvesting in American manufacturing capacity, speeding supply chains and reducing the burden of childcare and eldercare on workers.

“Too many families are struggling to keep up with the bills,” Biden said. “Inflation is robbing them of the gains they might otherwise feel. I get it. That’s why my top priority is getting prices under control.”

Biden entered the House chamber without a mask, in a reflection of the declining coronavirus case counts and new federal guidance meant to nudge the public back to pre-pandemic activities. But the Capitol was newly fenced due to security concerns after last year’s insurrection.

Set against unease at home and danger abroad, the White House had conceived Tuesday night's speech as an opportunity to highlight the improving coronavirus outlook, rebrand Biden's domestic policy priorities and show a path to lower costs for families grappling with soaring inflation. But it took on new significance with last week's Russian invasion of Ukraine and nuclear saber-rattling by Putin.

As is customary, one Cabinet secretary, in this case Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, was kept in a secure location during the address, ready to take over the government in the event of a catastrophe.

In an interview with CNN and Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he urged Biden to deliver a strong and “useful” message about Russia’s invasion. In a show of unity, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova joined First Lady Jill Biden in the gallery.

In a rare discordant moment, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado yelled out that Biden was to blame for the 13 service members who were killed during last August’s chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“You put them in. Thirteen of them,” Boebert yelled as Biden mentioned his late son Beau, a veteran who died from brain cancer and served near toxic military burn pits, used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. Biden is pursuing legislation to help veterans suffering exposure and other injuries.

Rising energy prices as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine risk exacerbating inflation in the U.S., which is already at the highest level in 40 years, eating into people's earnings and threatening the economic recovery from the pandemic. And while the crisis in Eastern Europe may have helped to cool partisan tensions in Washington, it didn't erase the political and cultural discord that is casting doubt on Biden’s ability to deliver.

A February AP-NORC poll found that more people disapproved than approved of how Biden is handling his job, 55% to 44%. That's down from a 60% favorable rating last July.

Ahead of the speech, White House officials acknowledged the mood of the country was “sour,” citing the lingering pandemic and inflation. Biden, used his remarks to highlight the progress from a year ago — with the majority of the U.S. population now vaccinated and millions more people at work — but also acknowledged that the job is not yet done, a recognition of American discontent.

“I have come to report on the state of the union,” Biden said. “And my report is this: The state of the union is strong—because you, the American people, are strong. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we will be stronger a year from now than we are today.”

Before Biden spoke, House Republicans said the word “crisis” describes the state of the union under Biden and Democrats — from an energy policy that lets Russia sell oil abroad to challenges at home over jobs and immigration.

“We’re going to push the president to do the right thing,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

At least a half dozen lawmakers, including Reps. Jamie Raskin and Pete Aguilar, both members of the committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., had tested positive for COVID-19 and were not expected at the Capitol for the speech.

“Tonight, I can say we are moving forward safely, back to more normal routines,” Biden said, outlining his administration's plans to continue to combat COVID-19 and saying, “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.” He announced that people will be able to order another round of free tests from the government and that his administration was launching a “test to treat” initiative to provide free antiviral pills at pharmacies to those who test positive for the virus.

Where his speech to Congress last year saw the rollout of a massive social spending package, Biden this year largely repackaged past proposals in search of achievable measures he hopes can win bipartisan support in a bitterly divided Congress before the elections.

The president also highlighted investments in everything from internet broadband access to bridge construction from November’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law as an example of government reaching consensus and delivering change for the nation.

He also appealed to lawmakers to compromise on rival competitiveness bills that have passed the House and Senate, both meant to revitalize high-tech American manufacturing and supply chains in the face of growing geopolitical threats from China.

“Instead of relying on foreign supply chains – let’s make it in America,” Biden said.

As part of his pitch to voters, he also put a new emphasis on how proposals like extending the child tax credit and bringing down child care costs could bring relief to families as prices rise. He was said his climate change proposals would cut costs for lower- and middle-income families and create new jobs.

Biden called for lowering health care costs, pitching his plan to authorize Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, as well as an extension of more generous health insurance subsidies now temporarily available through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces where 14.5 million people get coverage.

He proposed initiatives on mental health that dovetail with growing bipartisan interest in Congress amid evidence that the pandemic has damaged the national psyche, and discussed new ways to improve access to health benefits for veterans sickened by exposure to the burning of waste during their service.

Biden also appealed for action on voting rights, which has failed to win GOP support. And as gun violence rises, he returned to calls to ban assault weapons, a blunt request he hadn’t made in months. He called to “fund the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities.”

In addition, Biden led Congress in a bipartisan tribute to retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and pressed the Senate to confirm federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the high court to replace him. He nominated her last week.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Fatima Hussein, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Jason Dearen in New York contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he would not again help Democrats extend the government's borrowing authority, raising fresh doubts about how Congress will avert a federal default when a temporary patch expires in December.

McConnell issued his warning in a letter to President Joe Biden a day after the Senate approved a $480 billion boost in the federal debt limit, enough to last about two months. In an eleventh-hour turnabout, the Kentucky Republican was among 11 GOP senators who provided decisive support Thursday for a procedural move that opened the door for subsequent Senate passage of that measure with only Democratic support.

Some GOP senators openly criticized their leaders not holding out longer against Democrats' efforts to extend the debt limit, which they said would have sharpened their message that a still-developing multibillion-dollar package of Biden's top domestic priorities is wasteful and damaging to the economy.

McConnell said Friday that he made his decision to refuse future help because of his opposition to the huge domestic bill and because of a "bizarre spectacle" on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. After the bill passed, Schumer criticized Republicans for trying to push the country over "the cliff's edge" by opposing the debt limit extension.

"In light of Senator Schumer's hysterics and my grave concerns about the ways that another vast, reckless, partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement," McConnell wrote.

It remains unclear how Democrats would push new legislation further extending federal borrowing authority come December without GOP backing.

One theoretical way is for them to change Senate rules and shield debt limit legislation from GOP filibusters, delays that require 60 votes to overcome in the 50-50 Senate.

At least two Democratic senators, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, have said they oppose doing that, effectively thwarting that option. Republicans said one factor in providing Democrats the two-month lifeline was fear that Manchin and Sinema might decide to support ending filibusters for debt limit legislation.

McConnell's letter included a string of insults aimed at Schumer, a remarkable broadside by one Senate leader against another.

"Last night, in a bizarre spectacle, Senator Schumer exploded in a rant that was so partisan, angry, and corrosive that even Democratic Senators were visibly embarrassed by him and for him," McConnell wrote. "This tantrum encapsulated and escalated a pattern of angry incompetence from Senator Schumer."

McConnell added: "This childish behavior only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short-term patch. It has poisoned the well even further."

A Schumer spokesperson declined to comment on McConnell's letter.

Since summer, McConnell repeatedly said Republicans would not assist Democrats in pushing a debt ceiling extension through the Senate by helping them reach the 60 votes needed for most legislation. He cited Democrats' proposed 10-year, $3.5 trillion social, economic and tax measure, which Republicans unanimously oppose.

Hours before Thursday's vote, McConnell reversed course and proposed a short-term extension into December. Without a renewal of federal borrowing powers, the Treasury Department had projected it would run out of cash to pay the government’s bills by Oct. 18.

Republicans lambasting McConnell's tactic included former President Donald Trump, still influential within the GOP. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., typically a McConnell ally, slammed the move as "complete capitulation."

If the government depletes its legal ability to borrow money, financial analysts have warned that it could deliver a serious blow to the U.S. and global economy and cause delays in government payments to Social Security recipients and others.

McConnell has insisted that Democrats can raise the debt ceiling by themselves by employing the same special budget process they're already using for their enormous domestic spending and tax measure. Those procedures forbid filibusters from being used against certain bills.

Democrats say they won't use that process, which they call too cumbersome. But it would also require them to raise the debt limit by a specific dollar amount that, they fear, Republicans will make a staple of campaign ads attacking them.

Democrats accused McConnell of creating a potential financial crisis. They noted that the current federal debt of around $28 trillion is to cover spending that's already been approved, including around $7 trillion under former President Donald Trump.

McConnell said it was Democrats who prompted the problem because he had warned them since summer that they would have to approve the debt limit extension on their own. Before Thursday, the House had approved debt ceiling extensions but Republicans blocked them in the Senate.

After the $480 billion borrowing extension cleared the procedural hurdle thanks to GOP support Thursday, the Senate gave it final approval by 50-48 with only Democratic votes. Final congressional approval of the Senate-passed short-term debt ceiling extension is expected Tuesday by the House.

After the Senate vote, Schumer lauded Democrats for overcoming "this Republican-manufactured crisis. Despite immense opposition from Leader McConnell and members of his conference, our caucus held together and we have pulled our country back from the cliff’s edge that Republicans tried to push us over."

As some Americans begin receiving up to $600 in stimulus checks, the possibility of more direct payments is in limbo in the Senate Wednesday.

After the House on Monday night approved a standalone measure to increase direct payments from up to $600 per individual to $2,000, it then went to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked efforts Tuesday for a fast-tracked vote on the measure. In response, Senator Bernie Sanders blocked a planned vote to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a national defense bill until there is a vote on the direct payments.

Later in the day, McConnell suggested tying together votes on two bills later in the week; one on the House-passed bill to increase larger direct payments and one on a measure that would allow the $2,000 payments only if a commission to study election fraud is established and parts of Section 230 are repealed.

In signing the $900 billion COVID relief package along with the larger government funding bill on Sunday night, President Trump said he wanted larger direct payments, as well as an investigation into unfounded claims of election fraud. Earlier this month he vetoed the national defense bill because it did not make changes to Section 230, which provides protections for internet platforms and technology companies.

On Tuesday morning, McConnell had said the Senate would start the process to address those priorities from the president.

Many Democrats oppose connecting the issues together, and would likely vote against the broader measure, according to the Washington Post.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference Wednesday morning, and called on McConnell to allow a vote on the increased payments. When asked if she would take up the measure again next week after new members of Congress are sworn in, she repeated her hope for getting it done this year.

“Let’s be hopeful it happens this week. The sooner it happens the sooner they go out," Pelosi said, referring to the $2,000 stimulus checks.

The Senate is scheduled to be back in session Wednesday afternoon. It’s unclear whether there will be any movement or discussion about the larger direct payments or any plans for a vote at this time.

If the larger direct payment amount is approved, the Treasury Department would send Americans the difference.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill, denounced Republican efforts to use the tallying of Electoral College votes as a last-ditch effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

During a speech from the Senate floor, McConnell told his colleagues that his vote on Wednesday would be "the most important vote I have ever cast," adding that if Trump’s allies were successful in overturning the results of the election, “it would damage our republic forever.”

"If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” McConnell said. “We'd never see our country accept an election again."

McConnell added President Donald Trump had exhausted his path to victory.

“But over and over, the courts rejected these claims — including all-star judges whom the President himself nominated," he said. "...we cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken."

McConnell also criticized Democrats, who raised similar objections when Congress tallied Electoral College wins George W. Bush and in President Donald Trump’s first term. He also chastised the media for attempting to “de-legitimize” Trump’s presidency throughout his first term.

McConnell declined to recognize Joe Biden as president-elect after media outlets projected him the winner of the 2020 election, saying that President Donald Trump had the right to challenge the results. It wasn't until states certified results and the Electoral College cast its votes on Dec. 14 that McConnell recognized Biden as president-elect.

However, since the Electoral College vote, McConnell has cautioned Republicans against using today's vote tallying session as an opportunity to overturn the election results.

McConnell's speech Wednesday came after several Republican lawmakers objected to the Electoral College votes in Arizona, which prompted two hours of debate. Trump's allies have also promised to raise objections in other swing states, like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

However, the push to overturn the election will more than likely fail.

A majority of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress must approve the objections in order to throw out a state's Electoral Count. Democrats control the House of Representatives, and many Republican Senators have said they do not support the effort.

Vice President Mike Pence also said Wednesday that he will not reject the Electoral College results in his role of presiding over the session.

WASHINGTON —

Kentucky's U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell addressed his fellow lawmakers Wednesday night, sharply condemning the actions by violent protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol

McConnell, the current Senate Majority Leader reopened the proceedings for the Electoral College certification Wednesday evening, hours after the Capitol was forced under a lockdown and the National Guard was brought in to control the crowds.

The Kentucky senator didn't mince words when it was time to discuss the events that occurred in the nation's Capitol. McConnell said he and his fellow lawmakers will not be intimidated by "thugs, mobs or threats."

"The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd than we saw today," McConnell said. "We've never been deterred before, and will (not be) deterred today."

McConnell continued: "They tried to disrupt our democracy, they failed. They failed. They've failed to attempt to obstruct the Congress. This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic."

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The protesters were egged on for weeks by Trump, who since the November presidential election had launched a barrage of false attacks on the integrity of the results. While rallying his supporters outside the White House Wednesday morning, he urged them to march to the Capitol. But later — hours after they fought police and breached the building — he told them in a video that although they were "very special people” and he backed their cause, they should “go home in peace.”

Lawmakers in both parties made clear they were determined to finish the count following the chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Around 6 p.m., officials declared the U.S. Capitol complex “secure” after heavily armed police moved to end the nearly four-hour violent occupation of Trump's supporters.

McConnell, in his statement Wednesday night, said "criminal behavior will never dominate the United States Congress."

Early Thursday morning, Congress confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the presidential election winner.

Lawmakers were resolved to complete the Electoral College tally in a display to the country, and the world, of the nation’s enduring commitment to uphold the will of the voters and the peaceful transfer of power. They pushed through the night with tensions high and the nation’s capital on alert.

Before dawn Thursday, lawmakers finished their work, confirming Biden won the election.

Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the joint session, announced the tally, 306-232.

Watch the video in the player above to hear more from McConnell.

WASHINGTON —

Related video above: Biden discusses COVID-19 relief

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warned ominously Tuesday of a “scorched earth” landscape if Democrats use their new majority to bring an end to the Senate filibuster in hopes of muscling legislation supporting President Joe Biden's agenda past GOP opposition.

McConnell unleashed the dire forecast of a Senate that would all but cease to function, implying that Republicans would grind business to a halt by refusing to give consent for routine operations — from the start time for sessions, to the reading of long legislative texts, to quorum call votes.

"Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin — can even begin to imagine — what a completely scorched earth Senate would look like," McConnell said in a Senate speech.

McConnell said the partisan gridlock of the Trump and Obama eras would look like "child's play" compared to what's to come.

The GOP leader's stark remarks landed as the Biden administration is taking a victory lap over the just-passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the big COVID-19 relief package that was approved by Congress without a single Republican vote. Republicans acknowledged privately they are struggling to pry attention away from the bill, which appears to be popular among Americans benefitting from $1,400 cash payments, vaccine distribution and other aid, as the GOP focuses on future battles.

With the Senate evenly divided, 50-50, the rest of Biden's priorities face a tougher climb in Congress. While the Democratic-controlled House is able to swiftly approve a long list of potentially popular bills — to expand voting rights, extend gun purchase background checks and other measures — the rules of the Senate are more cumbersome. It typically requires 60 votes to break a filibuster to advance most legislation.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer brushed off McConnell's remarks as a "diversion" and said he hopes to work with Republicans on the upcoming bills, but said all options for filibuster changes are on the table.

Biden told ABC News’ George George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday: "I don’t think that you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days. You had to stand up and command the floor, you had to keep talking."

Senate Democrats are talking privately about changing the decades-old rules for the filibuster, which allows a single senator to block a bill by objecting. In earlier eras, senators would seize the floor, speaking for hours about their objections, as was done in the Hollywood movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” They also used it to stall civil rights legislation in the middle of the 20th century.

Supporters of the process say it protects the rights of the party not in power, but detractors argue it is being used to block popular bills.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Tuesday that nearly 65 years after South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond’s record-setting 24-hour-plus filibuster over the 1957 Civil Rights Act, "the filibuster is still making a mockery of American democracy."

It takes 51 votes to change the Senate rules and do away with the filibuster, and Democrats do not appear to have support from within their ranks to do so, even with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tiebreaker. At least two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have signaled their objections, but there may be more.

The Senate will be put to the test in the weeks ahead. As senators start considering the House-passed bills, Democrats will be testing Republican willingness to participate in the legislative process by amending the bills toward eventual passage.

If Republicans simply block the bills, Democrats are expected to lean in more forcefully to try to change the rules.

Some Democrats want to require senators who engage in filibusters to be forced to hold the floor, as Jimmy Stewart did in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” These days, senators can simply signal their filibuster, which Durbin derided as "Mr. Smith Phones it in."

"We must change the rules," Durbin said.

McConnell warned Democrats not to take the next step, unveiling the actions he could take in retribution.

"This is an institution that requires unanimous consent to turn the lights on before noon, to proceed with a garden-variety floor speech, to dispense with the reading of a lengthy legislative text, to schedule committee business, to move even non-controversial nominees at anything besides a snail’s pace," he said.

Changes to the filibuster have been underway for a decade, an escalating procedural arms race alongside the nation's rising partisanship.

Democrats did away with the filibuster rules to overcome Republican stonewalling of President Barack Obama's executive branch nominations and some judicial nominees.

Republicans and McConnell then escalated the process by eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court justices, smoothing confirmation of President Donald Trump's three high court nominees.