goodnight. tonight -- >> madam speaker, the president of the united states. >> the state of our union. president biden addressing a joint session of congress for the first time. >> america is on the move again. >> a speech unlike anything you've ever seen before. big plans for helping american problems. gun control. solving the immigration issue. and two women making history. >> madam speaker, madam vice president. no president has ever said those words and it's about time. >> our powerhouse political team breaking down the address and the republican response. "nightline" will be right back.

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rachel scott reporting from our nation's capital. >> reporter: it is an ambitious agenda, unclear whether or not president joe biden has the support in his own party to get it done. tonight the president laying out a plan to address nfrastructure, child care, health care. the total price tag on this, $8 trillion. a number that is too high for republicans. the president saying tonight, doing nothing is not an option. but he is under immense pressure to try and find common ground with republicans on his next legislative push. one of the areas he said he is making progress on is the issue of police reform. he says he'd like to get something done by the month of may. while much of the focus was on president joe biden, the two women behind him made history for the first time, two women sitting behind a president of the united states during a joint session of congress. >> thank you, rachel. for more on the highlights of the presidential address, here's abc's trevor ault. >> 100 days since i took the oath of office and lifted my

hand off our family bible and inherited a nation, we all did, that was in crisis. the worst pandemic in a century. the worst economic crisis since the great depression. now, after just 100 days, i can report to the nation, america is on the move again. >> reporter: in his first address to congress, the 46th president of the united states embodying the slogan, go big or go home. >> we also need to make a once in a generation investment in our families and our children. >> reporter: proposing the largest expansion of government programs in more than 50 years. $1.8 trillion for the american families plan that provides universal preschool, creates a paid family leave program, and makes two years of community colleges free. >> no one should have to choose between a job and a paycheck, or

taking care of themselves and their loved ones, a parent or spouse or child. >> reporter: the president focusing on his vision for the economy, tying his american jobs plan to everything from union organizing -- >> the middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class. >> reporter: to climate change -- >> i think climate change, i think jobs. >> reporter: and his ambitious agenda paid for by raising taxes on corporations and the 1%. >> i'm not looking to punish anybody, but i will not add a tax burden, additional tax burden, on the middle class in this country. they're already paying enough. >> during his remarks the president sort of skirted the actual massive price tags for these plans. but he was clear who he thought should pick up the bill. he has said repeatedly and he said again during his speech, he thinks that corporations should be paying more. and he thinks that high-income earners should be paying more. >> reporter: president biden spent eight years sitting behind president obama for these

speeches, and for 35 years before that, listening in the audience as a senator. now, at 78, he believes his moment has come. >> america's ready for a takeoff, in my view. we're working again. dreaming again. discovering again. and leading the world again. >> reporter: as the paralysis from a national pandemic slowly lifts, the president celebrating the bipartisan effort to get the country on the road to recovery. >> together we pass the american rescue plan. one of the most consequential rescue packages in american history. we're already seeing the results. >> reporter: highlighting the role of government in the country's mass vaccination drive. >> thanks to all the help of all of you. we're marshaling, with your help, everyone's help, we're marshaling every federal resource. we've gotten vaccines to nearly

40,000 pharmacies. >> reporter: according to the most recent abc news/"washington post" poll, the public gives the president his highest marks for handling the pandemic, with 64% approving. but the country remains bitterly divided, beset by intractable problems like immigration. >> immigrants have done so much for america during this pandemic and throughout our history. the country supports immigration reform. we should act. >> reporter: tonight, president biden calling on congress to pass the immigration reform bill he sent to congress his first day in office. >> for more than 30 years, politicians have talked about immigration reform. and we've done nothing about it. it's time to fix it. >> reporter: this comes in the face of a record increase in migrants. 172,000 stopped along the southwest border just in march, the largest total since the early 2000s. uncompanie cn arehis latest cri, with right now about 22,118

unaccompanied migrant minors in u.s. custody. biden came into office pledging to usher in a new era of u.s. immigration policy by rolling back trump's hardline agenda. as part of one of his early executive orders, biden established a task force to locate and reunite migrant parents and children who remain separated at the southern border. but as of early april, the task force was yet to reunite a single family. another divisive issue the president thinks he can get both sides to work together on, gun control. >> we need more senate republicans to join the overall majority of democrat colleagues and close the loopholes required in background check purchases of guns. we need a ban weapo an high-capacity magazines. and don't tell me it can't be done. >> reporter: already in 2021 there's been more than 13,000 deaths from gun violence and more than 160 mass shootings.

>> the flag at the white house is still flying at half mast for the eight victims of the mass shooting in georgia. when ten more lives were taken in the mass shooting in california. and in the week in between those two events, 250 other americans were shot dead in the streets of america. 250 shot dead. >> reporter: biden also urging senators to pass the george floyd justice in policing act before the first anniversary of his death. >> we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system. to enact police reform in george floyd's name. while the setting tonight is familiar, this gathering is just a little bit different. a reminder of the extraordinary times we're in. >> reporter: the usually sparse 200 senators and members of congress, some picked in a

lottery instead of the usual packed crowd. no guests with the first lady jill biden. but there was a new and historic visual. >> madam speaker, madam vice president. [ cheers and applause ] no president has ever said those words. from this podium. no president has ever said those words. and it's about time. >> reporter: for the first time, two women, the vice president and the house speaker, number two and three in the line of succession, sitting right behind the president. >> it was such a powerful image, a moment that this country has never seen before. and you could tell the president wanted to relish in it. >> reporter: senator tim scott of south carolina, the only black republican senator and a rising star in the gop, delivered his party's response to the address. >> we also heard about a so-called family plan. even more taxing, even more spending, to put washington even

more in the middle of your life, from the cradle to college. >> reporter: criticizing the president's big wish list. >> a president who promised to bring us together should not be pushing agendas that tear us apart. >> reporter: but for the president, standing in the space under attack just months ago, affirming his faith in democracy, his eternal optimism for what the country can accomplish. >> it's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against america, and it still isn't. we're the united states of america. there's not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. we can do whatever we set our minds to, if we do it together. so let's begin to get together. god bless you all, and may god protect our troops. thank you for your patience.

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piece of it done. look at the child tax credit and that investment, which is significant. he's also hit upon something on education that republican governors, democratic mayors, adding four years to a child's education. we live in a period of time where you earn what you learn. there's effort by republican governors and republican congressmen for that type of free education and expanding, making sure everybody has a chance to compete for the american dream. i do think what's going to happen in this area, you're going to get a traditional infrastructure bill that will get bipartisan support. they're going to use revenues from the tax gap and tax cheats that don't pay their fair share. he'll go through another process of getting corporate taxes up, et cetera, producing revenue for the other pieces of the agenda. when we look back a year from now, we'll be awed at how much he got done of investments, research and development, infrastructure, education, support for american families so they can raise their kids with a

middle class lifestyle. >> chris, earlier on abc you compared the president's speech to a 15-year-old with a credit card. president biden has big plans. are the republicans going to give him anything? >> sure. republicans will give him a traditional infrastructure plan that will be the largest infrastructure plan that this country's ever seen. and we've already seen republicans indicate they're willing to do that, put forward a very significant plan as a start to negotiations with the president. they definitely will. but look, rahm, joe biden sold himself at two things in the campaign, that he was going to be a uniter that was going to bring the country and both parties together. and that he was going to be a transitional president. to the next generation of democratic and republican leaders in this country. he's now decided when he's gotten into office and living in the white house that he wants to spend multiple times more than franklin roosevelt did in four

terms in one term, without either a depression or a world war. the american people are in the end not going to support this, especially when they find out that people who quit their job are going to get 75% of their salary under unemployment under this plan, they're simply not going to be supporting that. everybody from small businesses to people who work hard. >> next question for you, you're from the progressive wing of the democratic party, yvette. did the president go far enough for you? >> i don't think so. i mean, i think -- we want to talk about the highlights first. the $15 an hour, saying that out loud, sounded great. but he didn't include that in reconciliation when he had the chance. the question is when and how is he going to get that done? health care is one of the major issues facing most americans. i don't think the aca revisions or the prescription drug revisions he talks about goes far enough. we know there's a lot of support for public option and lowering the age of eligibility for medicare, he didn't talk about any of that.

i know that a lot of folks are still concerned about criminal justice reform. not just police brutality, but ending cash bail, legalizing marijuana, a ton of support for that. we think he didn't go far enough in the infrastructure plan, progressives are supporting the thrive act, which is $10 trillion over the next 10 years, investments on environmental justice, racial justice, jobs in equity, infrastructure. we think there's a lot more this president can do, particularly talking about coming out of one of most significant pandemics we've seen in our country's history. >> rahm, the border. how does biden allow for more open border than under president trump but not have this crisis? can he achieve both? >> byron, i think he laid out two parts in that area. one is he did talk about the border, did talk about enforcement. he said, we have a comprehensive bill. but he did say at a minimum, we should agree on dreamers that

there's bipartisan support, making sure that kids who are here in america, no fault of their own, what their parents did who lived their whole life, known nothing but america, should become citizens. here's what i think is missing. joe biden is authentic to himself. it is the secret sauce that has worked for him in the campaign, both in the general and the primary. it is working for him in this presidency. it's why the republicans really don't have a bead on him on how to demonize him or they're trying to do it on the policies and the policies come across as common sense, invest in america so we can succeed. he will get a bipartisan done on infrastructure, on police reform, and make that step by step and there's going to be a lot of support. horizon, look backwards a year - from now, we're you're going to see major parts of his agenda done. what he succeeded at, yes, it is big, bold, progressive, it's

what americans need to, do it doesn't come off threatening to swing voters. that is what is the secret sauce of the biden presidency to date. >> love talking to you guys. we're short on time. chris christie, final question, 30 seconds if you can. breaking news away from capitol hill. the fbi raided the home and office of rudy giuliani as part of a criminal probe into his dealings in ukraine. should the former president, donald trump, be worried? >> no, listen, i have no idea, but what i would say is that it's a very serious step for the justice department to authorize a search warrant of an attorney, of someone who's an attorney for a former president, and for someone who was a former law enforcement official himself. and so the development is very disturbing for those of us who count mayor giuliani as a friend, and i'm one of those.

i'm hoping, very much hoping on a personal basis that he comes through this okay. but i also know that in this country, the justice -- that justice is to be done. i hope that in this case that leads to a good day for rudy giuliani and not a bad one. >> thank you all so very much. we'll be right back with one more moment of history made tonight. smoking is freaking hard. corette knows, quitting you get advice like: just stop. get a hobby. you should meditate. eat crunchy foods. go for a run. go for 10 runs! run a marathon. are you kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette tackling tough messes can take more time than you have. so, the mess has to wait. but mr. clean clean freak delivers the power of a deep clean in minutes.

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♪ finally tonight, commanding the floor. >> madam speaker, the president of the united states. >> escorting president biden and making history, the new and 38th house sergeant at arms, major general william j. walker. >> general walker, do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states -- >> the first black man to serve in that position, walker's appointment coming after 39 years of decorated military experience and the january insurrection at the u.s. capitol. history made on many fronts tonight. that's "nightline" for this

evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night. is your family ready for an emergency? you can prepare by mapping out two ways to escape your home, creating a supply kit, and including your whole family in practice drills. for help creating an emergency plan, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com