US President Joe Biden on Wednesday painted a picture of America back to Congress after a series of dreadful crises, and displayed his will to reform.

He has declined his vast stimulus plan totaling nearly $ 2,000 billion, which he intends to finance through tax increases.

"After a hundred days, I can say it: America is moving forward again." Joe Biden delivered a resolutely optimistic policy speech to Congress on Wednesday. "A hundred days ago, the America house was on fire", but it "is ready to take off again", he assured. The tenant of the White House has long displayed his will for reform, detailing his vast bailout plan to more than 1.9 trillion dollars and calling on the richest to "pay their fair share". 

For the first time in the United States, two women were seated behind Joe Biden during his big speech: his Vice President Kamala Harris and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

"Madam Speaker, Madam Vice-President", he began, to the applause of the room.

"No president has ever said those words. It's about time."

A gigantic investment plan

Posing as an advocate for the middle class, Joe Biden has touted a massive investment plan to create "millions of jobs" for Americans who feel left out. The plan, which is already angering Republicans, is ambitious: 1,000 billion in investments, especially in education, and 800 billion in tax cuts for the middle class. To finance it, the Democrat proposes to cancel the tax cuts for the richest voted under Donald Trump and to increase taxes on capital income for the wealthiest 0.3% of Americans. The president also pledged that no American earning less than $ 400,000 per year will see their taxes increase.

>> Find the morning show of the day in replay and podcast here

Joe Biden also discussed at length the management of the health crisis and in particular the American vaccination plan, according to him "one of the greatest logistical successes" in the history of the country.

"More than half of adults have received at least one injection" and "elderly deaths have fallen by 80% since January," he said, while adding, with caution: "there is still work to be done. do to beat the virus, we cannot let our guard down. "

More than 96 million people, or nearly 30% of the population, are considered fully vaccinated in the United States. 

A police reform project 

Returning to another hot topic of society, Joe Biden on Wednesday called on the Senate to adopt a vast police reform project in May which bears the name of the African-American George Floyd.

The Democratic president appealed to the "courage of Congress" to definitively vote this text, which has already been adopted in the House of Representatives and plans in particular to fight against the wide judicial immunity enjoyed by agents.

"I know Republicans have their own ideas," he added, "we have to work together to find a consensus, let's get it over with next month, on the first anniversary of George Floyd's death," killed the May 25, 2020 by a white Minneapolis policeman. 

The content, calm tone of Joe Biden in front of some 200 parliamentarians and rare representatives of the administration offered a striking contrast to the speeches of his predecessor Donald Trump. Returning finally to a year marked by the pandemic, the tumultuous end of the Trump presidency and the trauma of the assault on the Capitol, Joe Biden wanted, once again, as during his entire campaign, to present himself as a unifier.