During President Biden’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday, he made remarks regarding mental health among children, as their lives and education have been “turned upside down” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not hold teachers unions accountable for learning loss after causing lengthy school closures and pushing strict coronavirus measures.
In his remarks, Biden said that children were “struggling” before the onset of the pandemic, but the pandemic exacerbated their struggles. He touted the American Rescue Plan as the solution that made up for “lost learning” during the pandemic.
"Second, let’s take on mental health. Especially among our children, whose lives and education have been turned upside down.
The American Rescue Plan gave schools money to hire teachers and help students make up for lost learning."
Furthermore, Biden urged adults to sign up to be a “tutor” or “mentor” to children. He noted that bullying, violence, and the toxic impact of social media were plaguing school-aged children prior to the pandemic.
"I urge every parent to make sure your school does just that. And we can all play a part—sign up to be a tutor or a mentor.
Children were also struggling before the pandemic. Bullying, violence, trauma, and the harms of social media."
In the audience at the State of the Union was Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower who disclosed thousands of internal documents from the platform to the Wall Street Journal last year. As Spencer reported, Haugen was seated with Jill Biden during the State of the Union.
As Townhall covered, Haugen previously testified before Congress that Facebook “repeatedly” misled the public about “what its own research reveals about the safety of children and the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems as a role in spreading divisive and extreme messages.”
Biden said that Haugen showed that we should hold companies like Facebook accountable for the “experiment” they are conducting on kids. He then said that we need to get all Americans the mental health support they need.
"As Frances Haugen, who is here with us tonight, has shown, we must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.
It’s time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children.
And let’s get all Americans the mental health services they need. More people they can turn to for help, and full parity between physical and mental health care."
Katie reported Tuesday how the White House released a “fact sheet” claiming that Biden would specifically address the mental health of healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Biden’s overreaching vaccine mandates caused the termination of doctors, nurses, and other health care staffers who did not take the coronavirus vaccine, which caused staff shortages.
The White House's fact sheet stated that Biden would "promote the mental well-being of our frontline health workforce" as part of the "Unity Agenda" in the SOTU.
In Biden’s remarks regarding health care, he pushed abortion rights.
“If we want to go forward—not backward—we must protect access to health care. Preserve a woman’s right to choose,” he said. He then transitioned into pushing the Equality Act.
“The onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is wrong. As I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans, I will always have your back as your President,” he said.