U.S. President Joe Biden is set to deliver his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Mar. 7. This speech, mandated by the Constitution, is held annually, typically in February. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), posted the invitation on X and acknowledged it was his duty to invite the president “in this moment of great challenge for our country.”
Biden’s speech comes at a critical time for his re-election campaign and his domestic agenda. The address will be delivered one day after Super Tuesday, where 16 states will vote in the Democratic and Republican primaries for president. While Biden has no significant challengers, Donald Trump continues to wield dominance over former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has vowed to stay in the race in her longshot effort to win the Republican nomination.
President Biden is likely to remind Congress, and Americans watching of his domestic agenda over the past three years, including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan, and Inflation Reduction Act among others. The speech also comes just two weeks after a bipartisan border deal was presented from one Democratic senator, one Republican senator, and one independent senator. While the bill initially had strong bipartisan support, many Republicans have backed off supporting the bill, saying it didn’t solve the problem. Speaker Johnson said even if it passed the Senate, the bill would be dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. Since then, President Biden has made the border deal the center of his focus, visiting the southern border on Feb. 29. Since the border crisis has become such a pressing issue, it’s very likely Biden spends time addressing it.
The speech also comes at a time of global instability, with ongoing conflicts in Israel and Palestine, and Russia and Ukraine. Included in the border bill was $60 billion to support Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel’s defense, and $10 billion for humanitarian aid to Gaza and Ukraine. President Biden announced on Mar. 1 that the U.S. will be airdropping first aid and humanitarian supplies into Gaza days after dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza while waiting for supplies. The $95 billion package passed the Senate but is being held up in the House of Representatives. After its blockage, the speaker from 23 European parliaments sent a letter to Speaker Johnson urging him to supply Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
The top issue for American voters in virtually every election is the economy, which the president is sure to address. Bidenomics, as the president calls it, is unpopular among Americans according to polls, however the White House claims the media isn’t reporting on the strength of the American economy. In January, America’s top economists were predicting that the U.S. would add 180,000 new jobs and that the unemployment rate would tick up, however the U.S. added a whopping 353,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%. As of the time this article was written, the February jobs report has not been released. The unemployment rate has now been below 4% for two straight years, the longest stretch in more than five decades. Inflation has also dropped to 3.1%, the lowest rate since 2021. It’s unclear if Biden’s speech will touch on “Bidenomics” specifically, but the president is likely to make his case directly to the American people.
Biden’s state of the union address will likely be his last time to address Congress and the nation before the 2024 election, where he is set for a rematch with former President Donald Trump. With Biden’s age a real concern among Americans, the speech could serve as validation of their worries, or cancel them out.
The speech will be delivered in the U.S. Capitol, with Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker Mike Johnson sitting behind Biden. The room will be filled with every member of the House and Senate, all nine Supreme Court justices, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all but one member of Biden’s cabinet, the First Lady and Second Gentleman, and a slew of guests invited by Democrats and Republicans alike.
The state of the union address will take place Wednesday, Mar. at 9 p.m. and will be available on every major news platform, or at WH.gov/sotu.
Monday, July 15, 2024
