by Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Joe Biden delivers a State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday evening, an annual meeting of American politics during which the Democratic president will face Republican elected officials questioning his position. legitimacy, while the population is concerned about the direction the country is taking.
This speech, the first of Joe Biden during a plenary session of Congress since the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January in favor of the “midterms” of last November, should also allow the tenant to the White House to lay the groundwork for his campaign for re-election next year.
Joe Biden is expected to explain how to revitalize the U.S. economy post-COVID-19 pandemic, outline plans for massive investment in the country’s infrastructure and measures adopted last year to combat the ‘inflation.
If Joe Biden’s approval rating has risen by one percentage point, to 41% in favor, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Sunday, this is almost the lowest since he arrived at the White House in January 2021. .
Thus, 65% of Americans polled said they thought the country was on the wrong track, compared to 58% a year earlier.
The Democratic president will urge Congress to build on last year’s “historic bipartisan successes” on a “unity agenda” centered on, among other things, advances in scientific research, support for military veterans and the fight against “the opiate epidemic”, indicated the White House.
During this “prime time” speech (02:00 GMT Wednesday), Joe Biden will discuss reforms on a range of subjects, including the police, an issue that has once again come to the center of the debates with the death last month of Tire Nichols in following a violent intervention by police officers.
Tire Nichols’ mother and stepfather were invited to attend the speech by First Lady Jill Biden.
WISH LIST
Joe Biden will push Congress to tighten restrictions on arms sales, the White House has said. He will also present an economic wish list – such as a minimum tax threshold for millionaires – many of which should not turn into legislation, the US presidency said.
Regarding foreign policy, Joe Biden should highlight the role of Washington in the response provided by the West to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, but also the tensions with China, illustrated recently by the presence of a spy balloon over US territory.
Advisers to Joe Biden are touting the speech, which is expected to be viewed live by millions, as a turning point for his second election campaign, which he is expected to officially launch in the coming weeks.
80-year-old Joe Biden would be 82 at the start of a possible second presidential term, a figure that worries many Democratic voters, according to recent polls.
On Tuesday evening, the Democratic president will face emboldened Republican elected officials eager to iron out the bills, after four years of Democratic control of the House of Representatives, despite internal divisions.
Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who will sit behind Joe Biden on the podium for the first time, is in a row with the Democratic president over the issue of the US debt ceiling, which must be raised in the next few months to avoid a default.
Some elected Republicans also question Joe Biden’s electoral victory in 2020 and have expressed their intention to investigate the actions of his administration and his family.
(Reporting Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason, with Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bose; French version Jean Terzian)
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