A CNN correspondent said Tuesday President Joe Biden showed “some vigor, some fight” amid a testy exchange with Republicans during his State of the Union speech.

“Democrats would stand and respond to Trump, they would boo and they would roll their eyes, all of that. This is not both-sidesism, you can just look it up, they did some of those things too,” Abby Phillip said. “I don’t think that to me was what stood out about those actions, it is how Biden kind of gave as good as he got and the White House wrote this speech knowing that they were coming to Republicans on some issues they had been attacking Biden on, whether it is on the issue of spending cuts or the deficit and debt, on fentanyl, these are things that were – to the speech to get a response from Republicans.” (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Tears Up Speech Copy As Soon As Trump Concludes State Of The Union)

“And Biden in that moment I think showed one of the things the White House was hoping he would show which is some vigor and some fight and I think that at the end of the day that might be the thing that you remember,” Phillip added.

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Republican members of Congress booed and heckled Biden after he claimed some Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare during the 72-minute speech Tuesday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said no cuts to Social Security and Medicare were on the table during a Jan. 29 appearance on “Face the Nation.”

A December 2022 Congressional Budget Office report predicted the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2033.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that that was the magic moment in the speech… all the clips we will see tomorrow morning on the news, are of that moment,” Chris Wallace said.

CNN reporter Dana Bash noted that McCarthy at times was trying to shush members of his caucus who were booing and heckling Biden.

“We don’t want this kind of lack of decorum to be the norm but apparently it has become the norm,” Bash said. “The fact that they were interacting was also different because he didn’t just ignore it, he gave it back.”

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