State of the Union 2024: Biden met with GOP heckling despite Johnson pleas for decorum

President Joe Biden was met with repeated heckling from House Republicans during his annual State of the Union despite urging from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to uphold decorum heading into the annual address. 

Republican lawmakers were mostly stoic as Biden began his speech on Thursday evening, with few of the shouts and boos that are typically thrown around by the minority party. But that silence soon began to break with shouts of “Lies!” as Biden criticized Republicans on issues ranging from the economy to immigration. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was among the first to heckle Biden during his speech, calling out the president’s son for alleged tax evasion as he touched on his economic plans to raise taxes for the wealthy. 

“It’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share,” Biden said in his prepared remarks. “If you want to make a million bucks – great! Just pay your fair share in taxes.”

“Tell Hunter to pay his taxes!” Greene called out from the crowd. 

However, emotions in the House chamber became more raw as Biden pivoted to the southern border. 

As expected, the president cited a compromise on the border, part of a larger bill that includes foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, that Senate Republicans rejected and Johnson declared “dead on arrival” in the House. 

“In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators,” Biden said of the deal, which was met with groans and boos from Republicans. “The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.”

Greene then interrupted Biden a second time to yell, “Laken Riley, say her name!” referring to the nursing student who was killed on the University of Georgia campus earlier this year. Although the Democrats shushed and booed her, Biden did say Riley’s name. 

“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden repeated after Greene. “To her parents, I say — my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself.”

Biden was also heckled by a handful of guests attending the State of the Union, both of whom were escorted out of the House chamber by security. One guest was removed from the House floor after yelling, “Says who!” in response to Biden citing more than 30,000 Palestinians being killed in the war in Gaza. 

Another guest was escorted out after yelling “Marines!” at Biden while the president was speaking about Abbey Gate, in reference to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during which 13 service members were killed.

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The heckling lasted throughout the address, with GOP lawmakers not letting up until Biden’s closing remarks. When Biden said, “Let me close with this,” Republicans cheered and yelled, “Yay!” 

The heckling comes despite a request from Johnson earlier this week not to make a scene during the address and to uphold decorum. Even so, Johnson did not hide his facial expressions as he rolled his eyes and shook his head at comments made by Biden.

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