President Biden State of the Union 2024 fact-check

President Joe Biden delivered his third State of the Union address to a split Congress on Thursday, March 7, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats controlling the Senate. 

Biden touched on the Israel-Hamas war, the nation’s economy and healthcare, among other issues.

Following Biden’s address, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman elected to the Senate, delivered a response for the GOP.

The VERIFY team fact-checked claims from Biden’s address and the GOP response. 

President Biden: “Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3%, the lowest in the world.”

It’s true that inflation rates have dropped from 9.1% to 3.1% in the United States, which is among the lowest in the world. But several countries have lower rates.

In June 2022, the annual inflation rate in the United States was 9.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The most recent inflation number, from January 2024, shows that annual rate has fallen to 3.1%.

Data from multiple sources show that number is lower than in much of the world, including some other major powers. The United Kingdom, for instance, reported a 4.2% inflation rate in January 2024.

However, several countries – including major powers – reported lower inflation rates. Canada, for instance, reported 2.9% inflation in January.

President Biden: “Former President [Trump] told Putin, ‘Do whatever you want.’”

YouTube video published by WMBF News of Former President Trump’s South Carolina rally on Feb. 10, 2024

Trump said at a February rally that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” when discussing  NATO countries that don’t pay enough for defense. 

Former President Donald Trump said during a rally in Conway, South Carolina, on Feb. 10 that, while he was president, he warned NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that are “delinquent.”

Trump told a story at the rally about an unidentified leader of a NATO country who asked him whether the U.S. would defend member countries against Russia if they don’t pay enough for defense.

“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

Biden: “The Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state.”  

No, Alabama did not shut down IVF treatments across the state.

On Feb. 16, the Alabama Supreme Court decided that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The ruling did not make IVF treatments illegal in the state, University of Arkansas law professor and reproductive rights expert Jill Lens and Katie O’Connor, director of federal abortion policy at the National Women’s Law Center told VERIFY. 

While the ruling does not ban IVF treatments, it could make them difficult to access. “While this ruling does not definitively make the practice of IVF illegal in Alabama, it contributes to a climate of uncertainty among doctors and patients and will inevitably lead many or all providers to stop providing this care in Alabama for fear of legal consequences,” O’Connor said. 

Facing pressure to get IVF services restarted in the state, on March 6 Alabama’s governor signed legislation into law shielding doctors from potential legal liability raised by the court ruling.

President Biden: “Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere in the world.”

The U.S. pays more for prescription drugs than other countries. However, generic drugs in the U.S. are generally cheaper than they are in other countries. 

Multiple studies have found the U.S. generally pays more for prescription drugs than other countries, as Biden claimed. However, generic drugs are usually cheaper in the U.S.

Research shows that prescription drug prices are between two to four times higher in the United States compared to other countries. 

A 2024 Rand Corp. study that used 2022 data found prescription drug prices in the U.S. were 2.78 times higher on average than those seen in 33 OECD nations. 

The gap was largest for brand-name drugs, with U.S. prices averaging 4.22 times those in comparison nations. 

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) came to a similar conclusion in 2021. The office published an analysis of 20 brand-name drug prices in the U.S., Australia, Canada and France in 2020. It found that retail prices were more than two to four times higher in the U.S. compared to those in other countries. 

But there is an exception. The Rand study found that the U.S. had lower prices for unbranded generic drugs than most of the other countries. 

Most U.S. prescription fills are with a generic, rather than a brand-name, drug, Andrew Mulcahy, a senior health economist at Rand who led the 2024 study, told VERIFY. 

“But, because US prices and spending for brand-name drugs are so high, across all drugs, brand and generics together, we land U.S. prices being roughly two times those in other countries,” he said. 

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt: “We have the worst inflation in 40 years and the highest credit card debt in our nation’s history.”

Britt’s claim about inflation is missing context, but her claim about credit card debt is accurate. 

Inflation did hit a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1% year-over-year, but it has since fallen in recent months. As of January 2024, inflation was sitting at 3.1% year-over-year.

U.S. credit card debt did reach a record high of $1.13 trillion at the end of 2023, data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York show. 

This story will be updated.