He will also rally allies around the world and outline his plans to fight inflation at home.
According to two sources, Biden was planning to mention that the U.S. has reacted to the invasion of Ukraine by following Canada and Europe in banning Russian aircrafts from its airspace.
Biden had in mind Tuesday night’s remarks to emphasize the courage of Ukrainian defenders as well as the resolve of a recently reenergized Western alliance that has worked hard to rebuild the Ukrainian military and to cripple Russia through sanctions. He was to warn that Russia’s President Putin’s aggression would not be contained to Ukraine if there were no consequences.
According to White House excerpts, Biden stated that “Throughout our history, we have learned this lesson – when dictators don’t pay a price for aggression, they cause even more chaos.” They keep moving. The costs and threats to America, and the rest of the world, keep increasing.”
Prices for American families were rising even before the Russian invasion, which sent energy prices skyrocketing. The COVID-19 pandemic continues today to affect families and the economy.
Biden was to present plans to combat inflation through reinvesting American manufacturing capacity, speeding supply chain chains, and reducing workers’ burdens with childcare and eldercare.
Biden said, “We have a choice.” “One way to combat inflation is to lower wages and make Americans less wealthy. I have a better way to combat inflation. Reduce your costs and not your wages.
The White House aimed to set aside disquiet at the home and danger abroad and used Tuesday night’s speech to highlight the improving coronavirus outlook and rebrand Biden’s domestic policy priorities. It also showed a path to lower cost for families struggling with high inflation. It has gained new meaning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week and the nuclear saber-rattling Putin.
Zelenskyy stated that he urged Biden not to send a strong message about Russia’s invasion in an interview with CNN and Reuters. The White House announced that Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., would be joining Jill Biden in the galleries for Biden’s speech.
Biden will speak to a crowd of people wearing masks in the House chamber. This is one sign that the coronavirus threat is decreasing. Due to security concerns raised by last years’ insurrection, Biden will speak from the newly fenced Capitol.
As a result, rising energy prices could lead to an increase in inflation in the U.S. which is already at its highest level in 40-years. This will eat into earnings and threaten the economic recovery from the pandemic. While the geopolitical crisis affecting Eastern Europe may have helped calm partisan tensions in Washington it cannot erase the political discord that is threatening Biden’s ability for national unity to be fulfilled.
Biden is speaking to a frustrated American public. According to an AP-NORC poll, 55% of Americans disapprove more than 44% of Biden’s job performance in February. This is a decrease from the 60% positive rating he received last July.
Officials at the White House acknowledge that the mood in the country is “sour” and cite the lingering inflation and pandemic. Biden will speak about the progress made in the United States over the past year, with the majority of Americans now being vaccinated, and more people working, but also acknowledge that it is far from done. This is a sign of American discontent.
Biden’s aides claim that the national psyche can be a “trailing indicator” and will improve over time. The president is running out of time and must salvage his first-term agenda in order to revive his party’s political fortunes before the November midterm elections.
House Republicans claim that the term “crisis”, which is used by Democrats and Biden, describes the state the union under their leadership. It includes energy policies that allow Russia to sell oil overseas and challenges at home regarding jobs and immigration.
Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader, stated that “we’re going to press the president to do what is right.”
A minimum of half a dozen lawmakers, including Reps. Jamie Raskin, Pete Aguilar and Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), had tested positive for COVID-19, and were not expected to be present at the Capitol for last year’s Capitol Riot.
Biden will repackage his past proposals to find feasible measures that he can win bipartisan support in an increasingly divided Congress.
President Obama wanted to emphasize investments in everything, from internet broadband access and bridge construction, from November’s $1.2 Trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill as an example government reaching consensus and delivering positive change for the nation.
He also planned on appealing to legislators to compromise on rival competition bills that passed the House or Senate. These bills were meant to revive high-tech American manufacturing, and supply chains against growing geopolitical threats by China.
This speech comes at a time when progress on many of Biden’s other legislative priorities remains stuck on Capitol Hill after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin killed the broad “Build Back Better” spending bill, which Biden championed last autumn.
Biden had to pitch voters by reviving parts of the legislation. However, he would place a greater emphasis on how proposals such as extending the child credit and bringing down the cost of child care could provide relief for families in times of rising prices. Biden was to also explain how his climate change plans would reduce costs for low- and middle-income households and create new jobs.
Psaki stated that Biden would use the term inflation in his speech. However, he stressed that he was more interested in “how people experience it” than a statistic.
Biden was expected call for lower health care costs as part of this push. He pitched his plan to authorize Medicare and negotiate prescription drug prices.
Officials said that he planned to present new initiatives in mental health to match growing bipartisan interest at Congress amid evidence of how the pandemic has affected the nation’s psyche and to discuss new ways to improve veterans’ access to health benefits after they have been exposed to the burning waste.
Biden was also to call for action on voting rights and gun control, as well as police reform. These efforts have not won significant Republican support.
He also pushed the Senate to confirm federal judge Ketanji brown Jackson as the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Last week, he nominated her.
After the government relaxed its guidelines regarding mask-wearing, the physician’s office of Congress has ended the House’s requirement to cover its face. The House chamber will now be open to all members, but not their guests, and mask wearing is no longer required. Before the speech, attendees must take COVID-19 exams.
Biden’s speech to Congress was limited to 200 seats, which is about 20% less than the usual capacity for presidential speeches. White House aides worried that the repeat Tuesday of the speech would ruin the message that the president was trying to convey.
