Joe Biden will press lawmakers to prove that “democracy still works” in his address to a joint session of Congress, as he outlines an ambitious domestic policy agenda following his first 100 days in office.

He will argue that his administration inherited a “nation in crisis” recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and a deadly Capitol assault that amounted to “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

“Now – after just 100 days – I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,” the president will say, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks shared by the White House. “Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.”

A preview of the president’s remarks highlights his pitch for his sweeping infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan, which he will call a “blue-collar blueprint to build America”, as he makes a direct appeal to Americans who feel “left behind” in the economic fallout from the public health crisis, growing income and wealth inequality, and the administration’s shift towards a more sustainable energy sector.

“Now, I know some of you at home wonder whether these jobs are for you,” he will say in his speech. “You feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that’s rapidly changing. Let me speak directly to you.”

He will argue that a majority of infrastructure jobs that the $2.2 trillion plan will help create won’t require a four-year college or associate’s degree, and they will be “good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced.”

“Wall Street didn’t build this country,” he will say. “The middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class.”

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