President Trump’s first State of the Union address will tout his first-year accomplishments such as the tax overhaul passed last month, while also calling for major initiatives to be tackled this year. The president will call for immigration reform, a major infrastructure initiative and more spending on defense, among other proposals.
The main message the president will seek to drive home is that he’s “building a safe, strong, proud America,” a senior administration official said in giving a preview of the president’s remarks.
The president’s speech will touch on five main areas: touting the massive tax overhaul, while crediting it for boosting the economy; a $1 trillion infrastructure plan revitalizing the country’s bridges, tunnels and roads; immigration reform that shifts the immigration system from family-based to merit-based; and increased military spending which will allow for better execution of the Trump foreign-policy doctrine “peace through strength.”
The White House hopes the president’s sweeping policy proposals can lift the cloud, even for a short time, that has been cast over his presidency by the Russia investigation and recent controversial comments made about immigration.
Democrats have planned several responses to the president’s address, including a Spanish-language one delivered by the first-ever female immigrant elected to the Virginia State House of Representatives.
We are honored that @RepJoeKennedy will lead Democrats’ #SOTU response. Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, the first Hispanic female immigrant elected to the Virginia House, will deliver the Democrats’ Spanish language response. https://t.co/DWlDhTVnMa
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 26, 2018
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), an outspoken critic of the president’s, has announced she also will be delivering a televised response after the president’s State of the Union. Waters will appear “Angela Rye’s State of the Union” on BET.
The president will deliver his address from the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. this Tuesday.