Liz Higgins was one of the Americans who watched President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening.
“I think it’s real important that the country saw that Congress was unified about Ukraine,” said Liz Higgins, from Torrington.
Unified after the two-year COVID-19 pandemic has led to a lot of division along party lines.
Victor Rodriguez, the Chair of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of New Haven, said it was a powerful visual to see all of the U.S. Representatives and Senators not wearing masks.
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“It was a very impressive visual in terms of, wait a minute, you know, this is this a commitment or a or a message or a very strong statement with respect to how comfortable people will about not wearing masks,” said Rodriguez.
Another topic of discussion was the soaring inflation Americans have been facing.
President Biden did not provide specific solutions to the rising inflation, but tried to emphasize his efforts to create jobs.
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Gas prices here in Connecticut are soaring, even hitting $4.19 at gas stations on the Simsbury Avon line.
“I work at a nursing home, a lot of the staff, the wages are not huge and paying for gas is a big part of expenses,” said Linda Giorgio, from Simsbury.
At the same time though, Linda said the high price we’re paying for gas in Connecticut can’t even compare to what families are facing in Ukraine.
“It’s horrible. I can’t even imagine what it’s like. We complain about gas prices and truthfully we have nothing to complain about,” said Giorgio.
Higgins agreed and said at this time, she thinks our focus should be on supporting the people of Ukraine.
“Inflation, prices, gas, it’ll come and go. Stock market, it’s down, it’s been up. But Ukraine is important. That is long lasting,” said Higgins.
President Biden said the U.S. is enforcing powerful economic sanctions and closing off American air space to all Russian flights. He was clear though that the U.S. is not sending troops to help Ukraine fight Russia.
“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO Allies,” said President Joe Biden.
But Rodriguez said the president wasn’t clear about what the next steps are in the Russia Ukraine conflict.
“Other than announcing the airspace restrictions in the U.S., he didn't, you know, make any particular statements as to what is the next step or how this could escalate further,” said Rodriguez.
