President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night. Here are the top five things the president will try to achieve in his first address as Commander-in-Chief.
Call for an immigration plan
The White House leaked some of the parameters of their immigration plan last week. It was received coolly on Capitol Hill. The president will use part of his speech as a sales pitch for his plan.
President Trump’s plan calls for a permanent solution to the DACA program, and also calls for tougher immigration measures, like $25 billion in funding for a border wall.
Several DACA recipients have been invited to be guests at the address by Democratic lawmakers. They will undoubtedly be listening attentively to what the president has to say.
Propose an infrastructure plan
The president is expected to call for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending in the speech. Leaked documents show the White House is calling for a mix of private and public investment to revitalize the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels. The president is expected to fill out some of the details of the plan tomorrow.
Toot his own horn on the economy
Over 270 companies have announced bonuses, wage increases or other compensation benefits for their employees as a result of the GOP-led tax plan passed last month. Unemployment is at an-almost-minimum of near 4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sets new records seemingly every week. Expect the president to take a victory lap on his economic record.
Cheerlead for the Party
One of the president’s goals in the address is to make the case to the public for more Republicans in Congress. The president isn’t expected to make an overt case to vote only for the GOP, but he is expected to set the stage for the midterm elections later this year.
Trump will make the case that Republican leadership has been good the country and will intimate that expanded majorities, like a filibuster-proof sixty votes in the senate, for example, would be even better.
Be himself
The president’s sober, professional tone in an address he delivered to Congress last year, shortly after being inaugurated, got him applause and rave reviews, even from the liberal-leaning pundits.
But that speech last year earned President Trump a smaller audience than the one President Obama earned in his first Congressional address. Something that did not sit well with the former reality-TV star. Look for the president to put his own stamp on the traditional address in an effort to shake things up a bit.