Biden State of the Union Statement calls for unity and action

WASHINGTON. President Joe Biden is expected to deliver an address to Congress calling for unity as the deeply divided country heads into another presidential election cycle.

The president plans to urge Republicans to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation despite a split in Congress and deteriorating relations with China.

The annual Tuesday night speech is the second in Biden’s term and the first that Republicans voted for a majority in the House of Representatives.

The president offers a hopeful assessment of the state of the country, rather than putting forward catchy political proposals.

It comes at a time when the nation is scrambling to make sense of conflicting internal and external currents — economic uncertainty, the debilitating war in Ukraine, rising tensions with China and more — and is cautiously assessing Biden’s suitability for likely re-election.

The speech also comes after House Leader Kevin McCarthy urged Biden to negotiate spending cuts with him as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Biden has previously said that there should be no negotiations, and the debt limit should be raised without any reservations.

“America’s history is one of progress and resilience,” Biden says, according to excerpts released by the White House. He highlights that a record number of jobs have been created during his tenure as the country emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. And he says that two years after the January 6, 2021 uprising in the Capitol, democracy in the country is “unbending and unbroken.”

Despite Biden’s calls for unity, his words may go unheeded.

In the months leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans pledged to spend most of their time investigating the Biden administration, if elected to office. It’s a promise they seek to keep when congressional committees launch an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents and his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings, among other avenues in which Republicans would like to attack the president.

House Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday vowed to be “respectful” during his speech and, in turn, asked Biden to refrain from using the phrase “hardcore MAGA Republicans” that the president used during his 2022 presidential campaign.

“I won’t cut speeches, I won’t play games,” McCarthy told reporters, referring to Pelosi’s dramatic actions since President Donald Trump’s latest State of the Union address.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who gained national clout as Trump’s press secretary, is set to issue a Republican response to Biden’s rebuttal immediately after his remarks.

The White House and lawmakers from both parties invited guests to deliver political messages by their presence in the chamber of the House of Representatives. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was brutally beaten by police in Memphis and later died, are expected to sit next to US First Lady Jill Biden. Biden’s other guests include rock star and humanitarian Bono and the 26-year-old man who disarmed a gunman during a shooting in Monterey Park, California last month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.