President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. This will be the first time he will be delivering the speech to a divided Congress. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives following a victory in the midterm elections.
Part of President Biden's speech will focus on how Democrats and Republicans can work together.
He will call for unity in an effort to fight and end cancer. President Biden wants Congress to reauthorize the National Cancer Act. The White House says a reauthorization will allow for the nation’s cancer research and care systems to be updated. It adds that this would allow for the information from research to be accessed by as many experts as possible so they can work to end cancer as we know it.
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President Biden believes he can also find bipartisan support for assisting veterans and their families. The president will lay out a vision to help veterans access better health care, education and housing.
President Biden will also call for lawmakers to help address veteran suicides. The administration says more than 71,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2010.
The president will also call for Republicans and Democratic lawmakers to work together on tackling the mental health crisis in the U.S. The main objectives will be to support healthy environments, strengthen system capacity and connect more Americans to care.
President Biden is also seeking bipartisanship to tackle the opioid and overdose epidemic. He believes lawmakers can support the administration's efforts to disrupt tracking and the distribution of fentanyl.
One of the guests seated in the first lady's viewing box is Doug Griffin. He lost his 20-year-old daughter to a fentanyl overdose. He's calling for better access to substance use disorder treatment services.
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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to give the GOP's response to the address.
The ambassador of Ukraine, Oksana Markarova, was also asked to sit in the first lady's viewing box. The White House has praised Markarova for her work during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
RowVaughn and Rodney Wells will also be in attendance. They are calling for police reform in the wake of their son's death. He died after a beating by Memphis police officers.
The State of the Union will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT.
