President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address before Congress on March 7, a relatively late date that places the speech after the Super Tuesday primaries and of any confrontation in Congress in early 2024 over federal funding.
Speech will give Biden the opportunity to lay out his agenda for 2024 as he seeks a second term and potentially draws a contrast with his likely Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who extended the invitation to Biden in a letter posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said it comes at a “very challenging time for our country.”
It is my solemn duty to invite President Biden to address a Joint Session of Congress on March 7th to report on the state of our union. pic.twitter.com/uqIf7BpPeo
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 6, 2024
Biden responded in a post this Saturday, saying he is “looking forward to it.”
Biden and Trump clashed on Friday in opposing speeches related to the third anniversary of the deadly assault on the US Capitol on January 6 by Trump supporters seeking to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden’s victory in the elections 2020 presidential election.
At last year’s State of the Union, Biden prioritized calls for unity as a partisan deadlock over the federal debt ceiling threatened a U.S. sovereign default. Several Republicans booed Biden in 2023 after he claimed that some members of the Republican Party wanted to cut Medicare and Social Security.
Congress continues to negotiate with the White House on legislation to fund the government over the long term. The Republicans have demanded significant changes to immigration policy before approving any substantial foreign aid, including to allies Ukraine and Israel, as the deadline for a possible government shutdown approaches.
