Everything to know about Biden’s State of the Union 2024
When it starts
President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the United States Capitol at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, his third such address since taking office in 2021.
That year, he delivered an April speech to the House of Representatives, Senate, Supreme Court justices, cabinet members and diplomats, but it was not considered a State of the Union address because he had not yet been in office for a full year.
How to watch
The address will be carried live on outlets including ABC, Bloomberg TV, CBS, CNN, Fox, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NBC, NewsNation, PBS and the CW.
The address will also be livestreamed on NYPost.com.
What Biden is expected to speak about
The speech is traditionally a venue for the president to tout his policy accomplishments and lay out his legislative priorities for the coming year. This election-year address will have extra significance for the 81-year-old Biden, who is running for re-election despite the fact that polls show the vast majority of US voters believe he is too old to finish a second term.
In what will likely be his largest TV audience before Election Day, Biden is expected to attempt to quiet concerns about his age and cognitive ability and make his case to voters as to why they should elect him over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, whom Biden succeeded in the Oval Office after defeating him in 2020.
In previews of the speech throughout Thursday, White House officials said Biden would push a populist economic agenda, calling for tax hikes on the wealthy and large corporations.
On foreign policy, Biden will announce that the US military will help establish a humanitarian port to bring aid into the war-torn Gaza Strip. He is also expected to call on Congress to quickly approve billions in additional aid for Ukraine.
What to look out for
There will be another new face sitting behind Biden and next to Vice President Kamala Harris this year. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) replaced Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker of the House last fall after McCarthy was ousted by a revolt led by the right wing of the Republican Party.
Protests in the form of fashion statements and outbursts are likely to feature in the live event. As he campaigns for a second term, Biden has recently been the target of demonstrators unhappy with his administration’s support for Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.
The president was also repeatedly heckled by Republican lawmakers during his last State of the Union, a once-shocking breach of protocol and decorum that has become routine in recent years on both sides of the aisle. Johnson has reportedly urged House Republicans to resist the urge for any such outbursts this year.
Lawmakers and their guests will likely give extra thought to their nationally televised attire. In 2019, Democratic women wore white as a show of solidarity with the women’s suffrage moment. Three years later, some lawmakers donned blue and yellow ribbons in a show of support for Ukraine.
Notable people attending
Women who sought abortions in Republican-led states will be featured guests in first lady Jill Biden’s box. Among them will be Kate Cox, who sued Texas last year to terminate an expected baby diagnosed with a chromosomal anomaly, and Kayla Smith, who left Idaho after the state would not allow her to abort a fetus with “fatal anomalies.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country became the 32nd member of NATO earlier Thursday, will also be in the first lady’s box. He will be joined by United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain and former California first lady Maria Shriver, a partner in the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research and a cousin of independent presidential Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose campaign the legendary Democratic family has denounced.
Elizabeth Carr, the first American born via in vitro fertilization, will be the guest of Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia after a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling briefly threw the future of IVF treatments in doubt across the state before lawmakers enacted legislation protecting providers from legal liability this week.
“Each of these individuals were invited by the White House because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the president in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people,” Jill Biden’s office said in a statement.
Freed Hamas hostage Mia Schem and at least 17 relatives of those still being held captive in Gaza have also been invited as guests of Johnson.
Two police officers who were attacked by a migrant mob near Times Square in January are invited guests of New York GOP Reps. Anthony D’Esposito and Nicole Malliotakis.
Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska declined an invitation from the White House, citing a scheduling conflict.
How long the speech will be
Biden’s three prior addresses to joint sessions of Congress have averaged a running time of a little over 66 minutes, according to the American Presidency Project.
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That is longer than the average set by former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, but shorter than the average length of the addresses delivered by Trump and Bill Clinton.
The Republican response
Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama is set to deliver the traditional Republican response, which is set to begin shortly after Biden concludes his remarks.
The three Republican responses to Biden’s past addresses have all run about 14 minutes.
With Post wires
