President Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, speaking before Congress at a critical moment for his year-old administration, with war raging in Eastern Europe and inflation soaring at home.
Biden’s speech figures to focus heavily on his efforts to bring the COVID crisis to a close, to temper rising prices and to manage Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to stage a bloody invasion of Ukraine.
“Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked,” Biden’s prepared remarks say, according to the White House. “He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”
The president has seen his approval rating sink to around 41% in recent months, according to an aggregated poll analysis by FiveThirtyEight, down from about 53% at the start of his term.
Biden is also expected to speak Tuesday about the White House’s efforts to address violent crime levels that have spiked in U.S. cities during the pandemic.
