Local lawmakers react to Joe Biden’s address to congress By: Dan Renko His message went beyond simply ridding the country of coronavirus or getting Americans back to work. In Biden's telling, the results of those efforts could determine whether American Democracy survives at all: a live-or-die proposition that escalated his calls for trillions of dollars in new spending into an existential question for his audience of lawmakers. While many of his ambitious proposals were supported by Democrats, Republican conservatives feared that his message will only further divide the two parties. Representative Jackie Walorski released a statement after the address, saying, “President Biden has made a habit of calling for bipartisanship and unity but doing just the opposite.”