What to Expect in Biden’s Second State of the Union Speech

President Joe Biden will speak to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening against the backdrop of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling.

President Joe Biden will speak to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening against the backdrop of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Biden plans to call for a minimum tax on billionaires and quadrupling the levy on stock buybacks, items that stand little chance of passing through the divided Congress but could resonate with the public. Biden will also nod at the “economic anxiety” many Americans are facing while also explaining how his policies will improve their situations, White House economic adviser Brian Deese said Monday.

Biden will “make a clear contrast to the trickle-down economic philosophy that has pervaded thinking for years and decades in the past,” Deese said.

Biden aims to use the address to test drive his 2024 campaign message in front of tens of millions of voters who will be watching on television and begin chipping away at polls that show most voters disapprove of his presidency. The president has yet to officially announce his reelection run, but in recent weeks he has used a sharper tone against Republicans at a series of campaign-style events, painting them as extreme and out of touch with Americans’ concerns.

The president is also expected to highlight the accomplishments of his first two years in office — including his landmark climate and health law and infrastructure package — and chart his vision for the year ahead, according to White House officials.

After the speech, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and a group of Cabinet officials plan to take their message on the road. Their post-speech travel “blitz” planned by the White House will see them visit 20 states and host more than 30 events.

More than six in 10 Americans do not believe the president has accomplished much during his first two years in office, despite Congress’s passage of major legislation under Democratic control, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.

“Safe to say as he speaks to the American people and to members of Congress tomorrow night that, that he will talk about his efforts to reassert American leadership on the world stage,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

Biden is also expected to discuss policing overhaul efforts in the wake of the killing of Tyre Nichols. Nichols’s mother and stepfather are among more than a dozen guests of First Lady Jill Biden, and among a group that includes U2 singer Bono — who will highlight US efforts to combat HIV/AIDS — and Paul Pelosi, who late last year was attacked by a hammer-wielding home intruder who was searching for his wife, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Other guests hinted at likely legislative priorities Biden will champion during the speech, from abortion rights to an assault weapons ban.

Biden will also call for a bipartisan law banning targeted advertising online for children and young people.

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