President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address will hail the resilience and strength of the U.S. economy, which saw unemployment drop to a nearly 54-year low in January, while pledging continued efforts to lower inflation and protect Social Security and other benefits. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that 2023 should be a year of “significant declines in inflation,” but strong jobs data mean the process of tightening interest rates could continue for “quite a bit of time.” The Associated Press has the story:
Biden to ask Americans to restore soul of the nation
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
‘FINISH THE JOB’
President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address will ask the country he leads to give him more time to accomplish his biggest goals.
“That’s always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America — the middle class — to unite the country.” That’s what the president plans to say in his State of the Union address, according to excerpts released by the White House before the prime-time speech.
And also this: “We’ve been sent here to finish the job.”
In the coming weeks, Biden is expected to formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign. A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for him, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
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FLURRY OF PREPARATIONS
Preparations are underway at the Capitol with the president’s State of the Union address only a few hours away. And that means a flurry of behind-the-scenes operations to transform the stately building for the prime-time event.
The House chamber is cleared out now that lawmakers have completed most of their business for the day. Crews are beginning their work.
The gilded Statuary Hall is filling up with lights, cameras and broadcast teams for the many interviews that will air before before and after the speech.
It’s the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the Capitol has been fully reopened for the event. Security is tight. People have begun filling the Capitol halls
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THE BALLOON
Biden has taken lots of heat from Republicans over his handling of the suspected Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the United States before being shot down on Saturday over the Atlantic Ocean. GOP lawmakers had talked about introducing a resolution, just as the president was set to give his prime-time speech, that would have condemned the administration over the matter.
Those plans have been scrapped, and instead a bipartisan proposal condemning China is being considered.
“It’s too important of an issue. And we want to stand strong together against China instead of having our own internal fights,” Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press. The Texas Republican is sponsoring the bipartisan resolution.
Not everyone is on board, it seems. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia, showed up at the Capitol on Tuesday with a big white balloon.
