8 February 2023
(NewsNation) — During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden is set to tout his four-part agenda focused on ending cancer, tackling the mental health crisis, helping veterans and beating the opioid and overdose epidemic.
The president is set to make his address before a joint session of Congress — split for the first time since he took office — at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch the full address when it begins, followed by the GOP response delivered by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the player above.
NewsNation will also be airing special coverage and analysis led by Leland Vittert and featuring pundits including George Will and political editor Chris Stirewalt, among others, starting at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the special report here or use our ChannelFinder app to find NewsNation on your TV.
Tuesday night, Biden plans on speaking about his “Unity Agenda” — announced in his first State of the Union address — which will focus on areas “where members of both parties can come together,” according to the White House.
“Over the last year, the President was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to enact major legislation that delivers on all aspects of this four-part agenda,” the White House said Tuesday. “In his State of the Union today, the President will announce a new set of policies to continue to make progress advancing his Unity Agenda and deliver results for families across the country.”
This will be the first time Biden is addressing a politically divided Congress, at a time when a new poll revealed a majority of U.S. adults say the country is not headed in the right direction.
The poll, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows about three-quarters of those asked say the U.S. is on the wrong track. Even many Democrats, according to the poll, don’t want Biden to seek another term.
Meanwhile, the president is also expected to tout 12 million jobs added to the economy since he took office, which puts him on track to be the best job-producing president in history.
Guests invited to the State of the Union include the parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police and later died; the mother of a child suffering from lead poisoning; Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the gunman in the Monterey Park, California, shooting; and Bono, lead singer for the Irish rock band U2.
Huckabee Sanders, who once served as press secretary for former President Donald Trump, will give the Republican response less than a month after being sworn in to her new position, according to The Associated Press.