Biden lauds generations of fallen U.S. troops who ‘gave all’

‘We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy’

U.S. President Joe Biden lauded the sacrifice of generations of U.S. troops who “dared all and gave all” fighting for their country and called on Americans to ensure their “sacrifice was not in vain” in Memorial Day observances at Arlington National Cemetery.

Biden was joined at the traditional wreath-laying ceremony by first lady Jill Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, for the 155th National Memorial Day Observance. He had a moment of contemplation in front of the wreath, which was adorned with flowers and a red, white and blue bow, and then bowed his head in prayer.

“We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy,” Biden said later in an address at the Memorial Amphitheater. “We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent. Every year we remember. And every year it never gets easier.”

Monday’s federal holiday honouring America’s fallen service members came a day after Biden and

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached final agreement on a deal that would raise America’s debt limit and that now awaits approval by Congress.

As it stands, the agreement would keep nondefence spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by one per cent the following year. The measure would allow for three per cent defence growth that year, to $886 billion, and then one per cent the next year, to $895 billion.

Biden has taken pride that his Democratic administration has overseen a time of relative peace for the U.S. military after two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s been nearly 21 months since Biden ended the United States’ longest war, in Afghanistan, making good on a campaign promise to end a 20-year-old “forever war” that cost the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members. The war in Afghanistan, however, ended in chaotic and deadly fashion with critics assailing the administration’s handling of the evacuation as poorly planned and badly executed.