Today at 9 pm ET, President Joe Biden will deliver his 2nd State of the Union (SOTU) Address. For the first time for President Biden, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will be sitting behind him next to Vice President Kamal Harris instead of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On April 28, 2021, on the 99th day of his presidency, President Biden delivered a “speech” before a joint session of Congress, but it was not an official “State of the Union” address.
Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued the invitation to the president, asking him to "share his vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities" of the time.
It was not quite four months since the January 6 attack on the Capitol. For security reasons, as well as COVID restrictions, the audience was limited to only 200 guests.
After separate House and Senate resolutions are passed for the date and time for the joint session of Congress, the president always has to then be formally invited into the Capitol building by the speaker of the house.
Unlike what Trump tried to do on January 6, 2021, the president cannot just walk into the Capitol when Congress is in session because he feels like it. The president always has to be invited by the House Speaker because of the Constitutionally-mandated separation of powers.
Starting in 1981 with newly-elected Ronald Reagan, the first address of new presidents is not called the “State of the Union” because they were not in charge of the country during the previous year.
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The State of the Union Address generally includes reports on the nation's budget, economy, news, agenda, progress, achievements, and the president's priorities and legislative proposals.
In one of the few times the writers of the Constitution used the pronoun “he” when referring to the president, the Founders stated:
He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
— Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution
The first and second presidents of the United States, George Washington and John Adams gave their “President’s Annual Message” speeches in person before Congress, but after that, the State of The Union report was issued in written form, usually at the end of the calendar year.
Thomas Jefferson decided to present a written report because he felt that an in-person speech was too close to the British tradition of the “Speech from the Throne.”
After 1913, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, began the regular practice of delivering the address to Congress in person as a way to rally support for the president's agenda.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began the practice of calling the Annual Message the “State of the Union” Address. The date of the SOTU address was changed to January or February of the new calendar year when the 20th Amendment changed the opening of Congress to January 3 from March 4, primarily because travel time was now much easier and shorter.
Fast Facts about the SOTU Address
The 1922 speech by outgoing President Warren Harding was the first to be broadcast on the radio. It had a limited audience.
The 1923 speech by newly-elected President Calvin Coolidge was the first to be broadcast across the country.
The 1936 address by President Franklin Roosevelt was the first to be delivered in the evening, but the next evening address did not occur until the 1960s.
The 1947 address by President Harry Truman was the first to be broadcast on television.
The 1986 State of the Union Address by President Ronald Reagan was the first to be delayed. It was scheduled for January 29, 1986, but the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up earlier that morning. Reagan delivered his SOTU address a week later.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton was the first president to have his speech simultaneously broadcast on the “World Wide Web.”
In 1999, President Clinton was also the first president to deliver an address while simultaneously standing trial in the Senate for impeachment. Clinton’s defense team made its opening statement in the trial earlier that same morning.
2019 was the first year that the speaker of the house “disinvited” a president to the Capitol for a SOTU address. Nancy Pelosi said she would not proceed with a vote on a resolution to permit President Donald Trump to deliver the speech in the House chamber until the end of the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown. A new invitation was issued after the shutdown ended and was given on February 5, 2019.
Invitations to the SOTU Address
Every member of Congress can bring one guest to the State of the Union address. The president may invite up to 24 guests to be seated in a box with the First Lady. The speaker of the house may invite up to 24 guests in the speaker's box. Seating for Congress on the main floor is on a first-in, first-served basis with no reservations. The Cabinet, Supreme Court justices, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and military leaders (the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commandant of the Coast Guard) have reserved seating.
The Designated Survivor
Customarily, one cabinet member (the “Designated Survivor”) does not attend the speech, in order to provide continuity in the line of succession if a catastrophe disables the president, the vice president, and other succeeding officers gathered in the House chamber.
In spite of all of the hoopla and outbursts of applause (usually from the sitting president’s side of the aisle), the SOTU Address is designed to be a solemn occasion with deference shown to the president.
In 2020, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stood up and tore up her written copy of Trump’s SOTU because she said: “…there was not a single page without a lie on it.” Previously, Trump refused to shake her hand when he came to the podium, as is tradition.
At last year’s SOTU Address, Republican Congresswomen Lauren Bobert (CO) and Majorie Taylor Greene (GA) stood up from their seats and rudely and verbally heckled President Biden as he was speaking. They and their constituents thought it showed them to be “strong” and Biden to be “weak.”
The congresswomen are expected to pull the same disrespectful stunt this evening, and many Democrats secretly hope they do. It will show the country how dysfunctional and tactless most of the House Republicans are.
Will you be watching the State of the Union Address tonight? What are your thoughts in general about the SOTU Address? Let us know in the comments or start a dialogue in the W.A.S. Chat Forum (for paid subscribers only).
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New subscriber here, I'm enjoying what I'm reading so far. Such an interesting article, I had no idea of the SOTU. Thanks!