2024-03-07 06:30:07 ET
March 6 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will address the nation Thursday night in his State of the Union where he is expected to reflect on his achievements, outline his agenda for the future and convince the American people he is ready for a second term.
Biden will speak before both chambers of Congress, starting at 9 p.m. ET. The State of the Union address is mandated in the Constitution, requiring the president "from time to time to give to the Congress information of the State of the Union."
"This is his third State of the Union address. This is going to be, as you can imagine, very important, as he sees it, conversation that he'll have with the American people. Millions of people are going to be watching," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday, as she previewed Biden's speech.
"You will hear the president lay out the historic achievements he has delivered on for the American people and his vision for the future."
"Looking at what President Biden faced when he came into office and where we are now, it is clear he has gotten more done in the first three years than most presidents have accomplished in two terms," said Jean-Pierre.
According to the White House, Biden will focus on his successes, such as infrastructure and lower drug prices, while laying out his plan for a second term.
"That includes lowering costs for Americans and giving people more breathing room, lowering healthcare premiums and taking on Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs, making the wealth and corporations pay their fair share in taxes, saving our democracy and protecting our democratic institutions, protecting women's reproductive health in the face of relentless attacks from Republican elected officials, making progress on his Unity Agenda, ending cancer as we know it, delivering on the sacred obligation to veterans, tackling the mental health crisis and beating the opioid and overdose pandemic," said Jean-Pierre.
A number of notable guests , invited by both Democrats and Republicans, will be in attendance for the president's State of the Union to highlight ongoing issues in the United States and around the world.
Those guests will include the families of American hostages being held in Gaza. The families will be in the chamber to highlight the plight of their loved ones who have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, as Israel continues its war in the Palestinian territory.
Two NYPD officers, who were attacked in January in New York City's Times Square, as well as several border patrol agents will attend the president's speech to highlight illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abortion will also be front and center with the attendance of two women who fled their states for abortions following the reversal of Roe vs. Wade . Kate Cox, who will attend as first lady Jill Biden's guest, was more than 10 weeks pregnant when she learned her fetus had fatal fetal anomalies. Cox sued Texas for the right to terminate the nonviable pregnancy and later left the state to receive abortion care.
An Indiana doctor, who provided abortion care for a 10-year-old girl after she was raped and then denied an abortion in Ohio, will also attend.
Elizabeth Carr, the first person to be born via in-vitro fertilization , said in a recent statement that she will draw attention to the "many people in-vitro has helped build the family of their dreams." Carr's appearance comes as IVF clinics shut-down in response to the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling last month that frozen embryos are people and are subject to wrongful death of a minor.
The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will also attend the State of the Union on Thursday "to shine a spotlight on the unjust detention of their son" in Russia on espionage charges, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was invited to the State of the Union, but will not be able to attend, according to the White House.
And Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska is also unable to attend, as Congress has stalled in passing more aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia since Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky's last visit to Washington, D.C., in December.
"So, the White House did invite Mrs. Zelenska to the State of the Union. She was unable to attend. I would refer you to Ukraine as to her reasoning why, but she did indeed -- she did indeed receive an invitation from us. And there was also an invite that went out to Navalny's wife," Jean-Pierre said Wednesday, as she declined to answer reporters' questions about Biden's speech preparation.
"It's an important speech. And it's going to be an incredibly important moment. And the president takes that very, very seriously."