President Joe Biden will begin to lay out a second-term agenda Thursday night in his State of the Union address to Congress, shifting to a campaign footing ahead of his expected rematch with former President Donald Trump this November.
Biden will talk about freedom — including homing in on abortion rights after the landmark Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024,” Biden will say, according to prepared remarks released by the White House. “If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
Among the announcements expected to come, Biden will announce plans to add a port in Gaza that will be used by the U.S. and partners to get aid into Gaza. He’ll also speak about the administration’s efforts to get the hostages who are still being held by Hamas released. And Biden plans to announce a new border crossing that will open in northern Gaza.
Once built, the pier will “provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day,” a senior administration official said.
The U.S. plans to coordinate with Israel, the United Nations and various nongovernmental organizations about getting humanitarian aid into Gaza through the port, but the administration official made it clear that the operation will not involve U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza.
White House aides have said in addition that Biden will highlight the post-Covid economic recovery and lay out the administration’s plans to revamp the tax code, expand housing supply and reduce the federal budget deficit.
“Since the president took office, the economy has added nearly 15 million jobs. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for two full years at a time when inflation has come down by two-thirds. Wages have risen by more than prices and are higher than before the pandemic and we are seeing a small business boom,” White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden told reporters on a media call. “Lowering costs for working families is his top economic priority.”
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But while the speech will be given in Biden’s official capacity as president, the political subtext is undeniable, coming just two days after Super Tuesday’s primaries, when Biden and Trump both effectively secured their parties’ nominations and their main challengers dropped out.
Biden will frame his speech around the rhetorical question of asking on whose side are politicians on, hoping to portray himself as fighting for working Americans and democratic values, while his opponents want tax breaks for the wealthy at home and to abandon Ukraine to Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin abroad.
He’ll use the address to remind voters of his legislative accomplishments, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which polls show many Americans are unfamiliar with or confused about.
And it will be a chance for him to make a positive case for what he would do with another four years in the White House since Democratic rhetoric around the election so far has focused instead on stopping Trump.
And Biden will seek to calm anxiety within his own party about his political and physical health, as polls show Trump ahead in key battleground states.
In the fractured modern media environment and polarized Washington, State of the Union addresses carry less agenda-setting power than they have in the past.
But with millions expected to watch, they are nonetheless a rare opportunity for Biden to speak to some Americans who don’t follow politics closely but tune in for big moments.
One thing he won’t be doing is rolling out new orders on immigration.
Biden is unlikely to unveil new executive action on immigration or the southern border, according to two administration officials and a congressional official who saw a draft of the speech.
The Biden administration has been considering unilateral action for weeks that would make it harder for migrants to pass the initial screening for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, as NBC News has reported.
During Thursday’s speech, Biden is expected to slam the GOP for failing to advance a bipartisan border deal this year, an administration official and a congressional official said. The tone is likely to be similar to Biden’s visit to the southern border last week, when he criticized congressional Republicans for the lack of action and told them they needed to “show a little spine.”
Biden’s aides have consistently stressed that any executive action would pale in comparison to legislation that would provide the necessary funding to execute some of their priorities, including adding border personnel and concrete policy reforms.
CORRECTION (March 7, 2024, 8:25 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It was in 2022, not last year.