A Tense SOTU
State of the Union addresses are always multi-layered events: a chance for a president to speak to the base, take a victory lap, acknowledge helpful supporters, and set the foundation for the year ahead. Tonight’s version promises all of that plus tension-filled additional layers.
The speech comes as part of the federal government is shut down, with Department of Homeland Security funding paused while Democrats on Capitol Hill demand changes to the way immigration agents behave.
It also comes a day after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the Supreme Court only deserved to be written with lower-case letters because it ruled against him on a major tariff case. The justices traditionally have front-of-the-chamber seats for the speech.
And it comes after the Trump administration tried to prosecute a US senator — and investigate other members of Congress — for what they said in a video.
- “He wants me to be sitting in prison right now. So I’m going to be sitting there as one of the senators from Arizona, as a representative of Arizona, to show him I’m not in prison,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D) told reporters.
Indications are that Trump plans to steamroll the assembled lawmakers, dignitaries and the prime-time TV audience with a list of accomplishments in hopes of resetting a national mood that has curdled before the midterm elections, Courtney Subramanian reports. Read More
Some members of Congress will be trying to draw attention to issues they care about through their choices of guests in the gallery. Iowa lawmakers invited the families of National Guard soldiers killed in Syria, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) is bringing the YouTuber who made claims about day care center fraud. Several Democrats said their guests will be sex-trafficking victims chosen to draw attention to the Jeffrey Epstein files. And Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) said she invited a man who was wrongfully detained by agents who refused to check his identification.
In this morning’s Congress Tracker, Jonathan Tamari walks through some of the substantive issues that members of Congress will be listening for tonight. The team at Bloomberg Opinion, meanwhile, took a look at how Trump did on how the president’s policies are playing on the ground.
Wheels Up
We can think of some politicians who’ll be holding their breath when Trump follows tonight’s speech with a trip to Texas on Friday.
Julie Fine and Jeff Mason report that the visit to Corpus Christi will be a chance for the president to amplify the themes from the prime-time address on friendly territory. It also will place him in the center of a spirited political campaign that could have a major impact on Republicans’ chances of maintaining control of the Senate in November.
Trump has deliberately endorsed no one in incumbent Sen. John Cornyn’s GOP primary race against state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
The Texas primary is a week from today, so if Trump decides to try to tip the scales, the unfavored candidates will have scant time to recover. Read More
Tariff Strategy
Trump has figured out a new direction to take his tariff campaign. Jeff Mason reports that the administration is preparing to launch investigations into the impact on national security of a wide range of imports.
Those include batteries, cast iron and iron fittings, electrical grid equipment, telecom equipment, plastics and plastic piping, and industrial chemicals.
Tariffs justified by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 19 are seen as more legally viable than other avenues Trump is trying after the Supreme Court struck down his “emergency” tariffs. Read More
See Also:
- Trump’s 10% Levy Takes Effect as US Rebuilds Tariff Wall
- Trump Faces Tough Legal Landscape to Oppose Tariff Refunds
- EU Warns That Trump’s New Tariff Policy Breaks Trade Deal
- Democrats Wage Populist Fight to Refund Tariffs to US Households
Join today’s Hill Watch Live for a discussion about affordability ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Senior White House Reporter Mica Soellner, Senior Washington Reporter Jonathan Tamari, State Legislative Analyst Claire Hebert, and Deputy News Director Loren Duggan will look ahead to the president’s speech and what’s going on in Congress and statehouses around the country.
BGOV subscribers should check their inbox and calendar for an invite and visit our hub for more information about the series. If this email was forwarded to you and you’re not yet a subscriber, you can sign up for the discussion here.
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The iconic “Johnson treatment” images that showed former President and Senate Leader Lyndon Johnson towering over lawmakers intensely lobbying them to see his way harkens back to an era when leaders exerted considerable personal sway, say Neil Simon and Chess Bedsole of Porter Wright.
But the face-to-face congressional relations that for decades may have worked over a drink or buttonholing someone in the Capitol corridors are now just as often a video meeting on Zoom. Read More
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