What to expect from Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on February 7

Joe Biden to deliver his second State of the Union address on February 7 (Image credit: @ClayTravis/Twitter)

US President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of the Congress on Tuesday, February 7. The State of the Union address comes at a pivotal time in Biden’s presidency, with the Chinese spy balloon expected to overshadow his speech. The fighter jet ordered into the sky by Biden efficiently dispatched the Chinese balloon, but the White House faces swirling questions over why the craft -- which China claims was studying weather -- was first allowed to trace a leisurely path across the entire country, passing directly over ultra-sensitive military bases, news agency AFP reported.

Moreover, this State of the Union address comes at a time when Joe Biden is facing opposition within his own party. Several polls conducted over the last few weeks have found that a majority of Democrats are wary of supporting Biden, 80, for a second term in office. In an ABC News-Washington Post Poll, for example, 58 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the party should find someone else for 2024.

Joe Biden spent the weekend at the Camp David retreat in Maryland with his speech writers. He has practiced what will be one of the most important speeches of his presidency extensively, the New York Times reported. Biden used a teleprompter at Camp David and went through the speech to mark places for pauses to ensure his speech impediment would not take away from the content of his speech.

With that, here is a look at what to expect from Joe Biden’s State of the Union address for 2023:

The dramatic downing of a huge Chinese balloon by a US Air Force fighter jet Saturday left the dangerously unstable relationship with the communist superpower literally looming over the Biden administration.

The president is expected to address the issue of the Chinese balloon that took US by storm last week. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is considering a vote of disapproval for how Biden handled the situation, accusing the president of not shooting down the balloon sooner.

The Russia-Ukraine war figured prominently in Biden’s last State of the Union address and is expected to be highlighted this year as well. Biden has professed the United States’ support for Ukraine several times, but more and more Republican House members are calling for a curtailment of US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Notably, this will be the first State of the Union address to a Republican-controlled House of Representatives since 2018.

The federal budget is another area that the SOTU address is expected to focus on. According to ABC News, a possible standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling could dominate the speech. Republicans are threatening to block the usually rubber-stamp approval for raising the nation's credit limit if Democrats don't first agree to steep future budget cuts.

Biden is also expected to highlight the key economic policies of his administration that have helped in not only creating jobs but also strengthening the country's economy. Inflation, which just a few months ago seemed a near existential threat to the Biden presidency, is steadily ticking downward. Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are starting to flow out into programs passed under Biden to spur high-tech manufacturing and repair infrastructure.

On Friday, new figures showed that a surge in job creation has driven unemployment to its lowest rate in 50 years.

(With inputs from agencies)