What Biden didn't talk about in his State of the Union address

President Joe Biden tackled everything from Russia's war on Ukraine to rising prices in the U.S. to gun control legislation in his first, 62-minute-long State of the Union address on Tuesday.

But there were a few noticeable keywords and anticipated topics missing from his speech, from Biden administration priorities to historic events that have shaped American democracy, and his presidency.

The president criticized the last administration for its tax cuts but never said Donald Trump’s name. He also didn’t mention Jan. 6, though Biden held a record-long press conference of nearly two hours on the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol. The omission also comes as Trump, even on Tuesday, continued to spread falsehoods about the election he lost well over a year ago.

On foreign policy, Biden used that chunk of his speech to focus on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on a sovereign nation and the U.S. efforts to rally the world in response. There was little mention of China, which the president has said is the main challenge to the U.S. And Biden only briefly touched on the climate crisis — what he has labeled as the biggest threat to national security.

There was also no mention of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a topic many Republicans continue to hit Biden on. Members of the GOP criticized the president on Tuesday for not commemorating the 13 U.S. troops killed in the ISIS attack in August 2021.

“An absolutely galling omission by Biden. Six months after the catastrophic withdrawal, no acknowledgement at all of our nation’s longest war. No mention of the 13 service members who died to keep Abbey Gate open so that others may live. Not in the headlines, so not in the speech,” Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) said following the remarks.

The president also never uttered the words “Build Back Better,” after traveling the country last year to pitch his $1.7 trillion social and climate spending plan. Biden instead reframed his economic plan on Tuesday, touting it as a way to “lower your costs and lower the deficit” — what was seen as a line directed toward Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who played a key role in the demise of the legislation.

Biden also notably didn’t specify a legislative path forward or any action he could take to address the rolling back of abortion rights across the country. Progressive groups have pushed for Biden to talk about abortion during his address, and he did, but without actually saying the word.