President Joe Biden is set to use his State of the Union address Thursday to promote his vision for a second term to a dispirited electorate who questions whether he’s up to the job and to warn that GOP front-runner Donald Trump would be a dangerous alternative.
The president will be speaking before what some observers would call a historically ineffective Congress. In the GOP-led House, Speaker Mike Johnson took power five months ago after the chaotic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Legislators are still struggling to approve funding bills for the current year and have been deadlocked for months on foreign assistance bills to help Ukraine stave off Russia’s invasion and support Israel’s fight against Hamas.
Johnson, eager to avoid a similar episode this year, in a private meeting on Wednesday urged Republicans to show “decorum” during the speech, according to a person familiar with his remarks to lawmakers. Jim Messina, former President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, said Thursday’s speech offers Biden an important opportunity to address voter concerns.
Republicans, in contrast, are describing the current state of the union with dark, menacing terms — like “crisis” and “catastrophe” — that echo the dismal tones Trump sounds on the campaign trail. The GOP-controlled House has refused to act on a Senate-passed version of the aid legislation, insisting on new stiffer measures to limit migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, after Trump used his influence to help sink a bipartisan compromise that would have done just that.