Upbeat Biden urges US unity and vows to restore blue-collar pride

President Joe Biden touted America's "unbroken" democracy and resurgent economy in an optimistic State of the Union speech Tuesday - as he sought to persuade skeptical voters that at 80 he still has what it takes to takes to run for reelection.

Biden's address before Congress and tens of millions of television viewers was a chance for the Democrat, who is expected soon to announce a bid for a second term, to pitch his centrist, populist vision of a country healing after Covid and the turmoil of Donald Trump's presidency.

In a raucous prime-time speech that occasionally more resembled the British parliament's Question Time than the staid annual US tradition, Biden eagerly took on jeering Republicans who newly control the House of Representatives.

Referring to the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election by Trump -- who is again seeking the White House -- Biden said that the United States had survived "its greatest threat since the Civil War."

"Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken," Biden said.

Biden touted unemployment figures which have hit a half-century low and stabilizing inflation as he told Americans that his economic plan aims to rebuild the country's manufacturing base.

"We're better positioned than any country on Earth right now," he said.

For decades, "manufacturing jobs moved overseas, factories closed down," Biden said.

"Jobs are coming back. Pride is coming back," he said. "This is my view of a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America."

Among Biden's proposals in the speech was a new "billionaire tax" he said was designed to "reward work, not just wealth."

And he hit out at big oil companies he accused of making "outrageous" profits.

"I ran for president to fundamentally change things to make sure our economy works for everyone, so we can all feel that pride," Biden said.