President Biden on Tuesday night accepted Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, to address a joint sitting of Congress on April 28. not an official state of the Union because a president’s first speech before Congress is not considered a state of the Union.
“Nearly 100 days ago, when you took the oath, you promised in a spirit of great hope that ‘Help Is On The Way,'” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Mr. Biden. historical and transformative leadership, Help is here! “
Pelosi’s letter to Mr. Biden arrives on the same day the White House announced its plan withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by 11 September – the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As his inaugural address, the first speech of Mr. Prayers before Congress are shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, which will make it different from the previous addresses its predecessors delivered before a joint sitting. A Capitol official involved in the planning said the number of senators and members of the House in the chamber would be limited due to COVID-19 protocols, and lawmakers would sit on the house floor and in the gallery. Guests for members of the House and Senate are also not allowed.
The joint session will be designed to host a national special security event, with the Secret Service designated as the leading federal agency overseeing coordination, planning and security.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that Biden was “eager” to deliver his speech and was likely to discuss the economic recovery, combat the coronavirus pandemic and address global challenges.
Republicans are likely to announce soon who will give their answer.
The president usually addresses the congress at the beginning of the year, but the White House said Mr. Biden is set to succeed in the US rescue plan. Mr. Biden signed the $ 1.9 billion package on March 12, and he had his first first address on March 11 to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. He held his first press conference on March 25th.
The address will be a few days before the end of mr. Biden’s first 100 days in office. The first hundred days in office have been used as markers since at least President Franklin Roosevelt and Mr. Biden has set an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days in office.
Article II, Article 3 of the US Constitution provides that the President shall “from time to time provide information to Congress on the state of the Union and recommend such measures as he may deem necessary and useful.”
It was George Washington who set the precedent for what ‘from time to time’ means. The U.S. presidency project notes that the State of the Union has been given annually since 1790, with a few exceptions thereafter.
The House of Representatives says that the message does not always have the name ‘State of the Union’. From 1790 to 1946 it was called the “annual message”, and thereafter from 1942 to 1946 it was informally known as the “state of the Union”. And since 1947 it has been officially known as the State of the Nation Address.
Former President Donald Trump’s final State of the Union in January 2020 ended dramatically when Pelosi torn up a physical copy of his speech after he finished.
“I tore it up,” she told reporters afterwards. “I was trying to find one page of truth about it.” When asked why she tore it up, she replied, “It was the courteous thing to consider the alternative.”
Nikole Killion and Melissa Quinn contributed to this report