State of the Union 2022 - Boebert doubles down on heckle as veteran’s widow calls for her removal
As it happened: Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to Congress
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Joe Biden has woken up an encouraging reception for his first State of the Union address, which snap polling says met with the approval of more than two-thirds of Americans – a rare bit of good news for a president whose ratings remain underwater.
Mr Biden at times received bipartisan standing applause in the House chamber last night, especially during his remarks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked,” the president said. “He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and Nato wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”
However, progressives have given a lukewarm reception to the domestic elements of Mr Biden’s speech, in which he promised to “fund the police” while declining to go as far as some wanted on key issues like immigration.
Speaking on MSNBC, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that “there’s some themes that are left a little bit to be desired for key constituencies in the Democratic base, but the president’s goal was very clear on really projecting a theme of unity and I think he’s still stuck to that.”
Meanwhile, the White House has hit back at heckling from far-right Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki remarking that their shouting at the president “says a lot more about them” than it does about the substance of his speech.
Biden polls: President heads into key speech as most Americans say he hasn’t kept promises
President Joe Biden is set to give his second State of the Union address to the nation on Tuesday amid an approval rating slump that has persisted since the fall and uncertainty in the weeks ahead regarding how his handling of the crisis in Ukraine will affect his popularity.
Mr Biden’s speech on Tuesday comes as a Yahoo News/YouGov poll released just yesterday found that 61 per cent of Americans say Mr Biden has only kept “some” of his campaign promises - or kept none at all.
John Bowden has the details.
Biden heads into State of the Union as six in ten say he hasn’t kept his promises
Some worry Democrats face bruising midterms if Biden’s popularity doesn’t increase
Jill Biden will sit with Ukrainian ambassador
First Lady Jill Biden will sit with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States during her husband’s State of the Union speech tonight.
According to a guest list released by the White House on Tuesday, Ambassador Oksana Markarova will “join the First Lady in the viewing box,” in an apparent gesture of support for Ukraine as it struggles against a Russian invasion.
Nathan Place reports.
Jill Biden will sit with Ukrainian ambassador at State of the Union
Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, will ‘join the First Lady in the viewing box,’ the White House has announced
Biden confirms to news anchors focus of Ukraine remarks will be on unity
At his pre-State of the Union lunch with TV anchors, President Biden put one quote on the record about the importance of maintaining the alliance against Vladimir Putin.
The lunch is an annual off the record tradition, but generally there is an effort made to give the media something on the record.
CNN’s Jake Tapper posted that the president was asked whether there is anything that characterises his speech tonight as it pertains to Ukraine.
Mr Biden responded: “The only thing that I think is important that I’m going to talk about — that I can talk with you because I’ve talked about it before; it’s not news — is my determination to see to it that the EU, Nato, all of our allies are on the same exact page in terms of sanctions against Russia and how we deal with the invasion — and it is an invasion — of Ukraine.”
He continued: “Because that’s the one thing that gives us power to impose severe consequences on Putin for what he’s done and one of the few things that I’m confident he’s going to have think twice about, long term, as this continues to bite. So, it’s the unity of Nato and the West.”
Biden to signal new phase of pandemic
The president believes it is time to learn to live with Covid and begin a new phase of the pandemic, while acknowledging that the virus could come roaring back to life at any moment.
Per ABC News:
Officials told ABC News that Biden on Tuesday would shy away from any suggestion of “mission accomplished” or even that the virus had morphed into an “endemic” state — a term reserved to describe a virus that persists but is mostly predictable.
Instead, a White House official described the president’s speech as noting the nation is now able to “move forward safely in a way in which Covid no longer disrupts our lives the way it has previously.”
The president also will “emphasise the need for the US to remain vigilant in the face of an unpredictable virus, including by preparing for future variants,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details in advance of the speech.
That the nation is “moving forward safely” probably isn’t the bumper sticker slogan Democrats were hoping for in a midterm election year. But it’s also a much more honest assessment of a virus that’s still widely circulating globally and which has killed at least 945,688 Americans despite aggressive efforts to contain its spread.
Pelosi ready for message of ‘empathy, action, and optimism'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tweeted: “I am looking forward to welcoming @POTUS to the House Chamber and hearing his #SOTU Address, which will offer a message of empathy, action and optimism, as well as his vision for the future as we face the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.”
The trucker protest with no trucks
A trucker rally at the Washington Monument failed to materialise as just a handful of protesters showed up at the event.
The National Parks Service had given permission for the demonstration at the Sylvan Theater and organisers expected several thousand people would rally against Covid-19 mandates.
But in the end there was more press and police at the event than protesters, according to The Daily Beast.
Graeme Massie reports.
Trucker convoy protest in Washington DC flops as no-one shows up
Organisers had expected thousands of people to attend Freedom Convoy event
Biden to speak out against defunding police
President Joe Biden will reportedly talk about fighting a nationwide surge in violent crime, and will again speak against defunding the police.
Fox News reports:
Biden is expected to call on Congress to provide more funding to law enforcement, a senior administration official told Fox News, by spending on crime prevention and more community police officers “to walk the streets, get to know neighbors and restore trust and safety.
Biden is set to push Congress to approve his budget request of $200 million for community violence interventions, and $300 million to more than double the size of the Justice Department’s COPS community policing hiring grant program.
“He’ll make clear that the answer is not to defund the police, it’s to put more police – with better training and more accountability – out to take back our streets and make our neighborhoods safer,” the official said, adding that the president will “reiterate his call” for Congress to pass “commonsense gun violence legislation that will save lives”.
Ukrainian flags line Pennsylvania Avenue
In solidarity with Ukraine, the District of Columbia has hung Ukrainian flags along Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the US Capitol — the route President Joe Biden will likely take to deliver tonight’s State of the Union Address.
Roads closed around Capitol
...but Capitol Police note that these are the usual road closures for a State of the Union Address.
Growing list of Republicans not attending speech
The mandate that lawmakers must test negative for Covid-19 in order to attend the State of the Union has unsurprisingly caused a number of Republican lawmakers to announce they will not attend.
Several Republican lawmakers have said they will not attend President Biden's Tuesday State of the Union address because of the mandated coronavirus testing before the speech.
"I’m healthy, so I won’t be taking a test for COVID… so I won’t be attending the #SOTU," tweeted Rep Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Senator Marco Rubio said he didn’t have time to get tested and that he only does when he’s sick, a statement that was quote-tweeted and agreed with by Rep Chip Roy of Texas.
They were joined by Reps Mary Miller of Illinois, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, according to The Daily Caller.
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