President Biden is delivering his first State of the Union address before both houses of Congress on Tuesday as Americans are monitoring Ukraine’s efforts to withstand an invasion by Russia and less than a week after Mr. Biden announced his first nominee for the Supreme Court.
Mr. Biden will say Russian President Vladimir Putin miscalculated in invading Ukraine, according to excerpts released ahead of time.
“Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked,” Mr. Biden will say. “He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”
CBS News has learned that Mr. Biden is expected to announce that he will close U.S. airspace to Russian aircraft, following in the footsteps of European allies. This is a move U.S. officials have been considering for several days, and some flights from Russia to the U.S. are already being canceled.
Mr. Biden will also address inflation, according to the excerpts released ahead of time.
A CBS News poll released Tuesday found that Mr. Biden’s approval rating remained at 44%, a one point increase from last week but the same as his approval rating in January and November CBS News polls.
The president’s approval rating started to fall last summer during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and fell even further as inflation became a bigger issue.
Senior administration officials said Monday that Mr. Biden will reintroduce parts of his domestic policy agenda and highlight his accomplishments in his first year in office.
“What you can expect the president to lay out tomorrow is how his plan, the ideas he’s put forward, lowers costs for families, can reduce the deficit and that it’s time for Congress to act,” one official said Monday. “It’s time for Congress to get him a piece of legislation that addresses those core challenges for families right now.”
Addressing those issues — like child care, family and medical leave, energy costs and health care premiums — would lower costs for families, administration officials argued.
The president will also address strengthening supply chains, moving goods faster and more cheaply, promoting fair competition and eliminating barriers to good-paying jobs, the officials said. He will describe the “emerging manufacturing comeback,” as one senior administration official described it. The president will also address ideas on housing, making higher education more affordable and outline proposals to make sure corporations and wealthy Americans pay their “fair share,” as one official put it.
The president will tout the American Rescue Plan, as well as his infrastructure law. He will also announce his administration’s plans for everyone who wants to work to be able to find a high-quality job, they said.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds will deliver the GOP response.
In Mr. Biden’s address before the joint session of Congress last year, Mr. Biden delivered a hopeful message focused on his ambitious plans for recovering from the pandemic, saying, “in America, we always get up.”
