“I think people can expect to hear from him that the United States, as a leader in the world, upholds values and global norms,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. Monday, preview.
On the domestic front, Mr. Biden returns to the same chamber where he unveiled his ambitious $1.8 trillion social spending package with great fanfare a year ago, only to see it go nowhere due to the stubborn move of the Republican opposition. and the flight of two Democratic senators. Abandoning a number of initiatives he championed last year, he plans to push Congress to pass parts of the original program, including measures to cut costs for childcare, nursing and prescription drugs.
Mr. Biden also intends to unveil a plan to address what the White House called “an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages” after two years of lockdown and restrictions due to the pandemic. Among other things, it will expand coverage of psychiatric visits and access to telemedicine appointments, upgrade the new national suicide hotline 988 scheduled to open this year, and introduce stronger online protection to protect young people from unhealthy social media.
Despite his setbacks to his legislative priorities last year, Mr. Biden plans to highlight his success in passing a $1 trillion Republican-backed plan to restore and expand the nation’s highways, bridges, airports, railroads, broadband internet and other infrastructure.
He plans to report on progress against Covid as the Omicron wave recedes and governments tighten restrictions on the pandemic, announcing partial or full vaccinations for about three-quarters of the population, while warning that future options could still threaten Americans.
The average number of new coronavirus cases has fallen by more than 90 percent since its peak in January, and deaths have fallen by 23 percent in the past two weeks. But even so, more than 1,800 people still die on average from Covid every day in the United States, and Mr. Biden wants to be careful not to sound too rosy, as many believe he did last summer.
One of Mr. Biden’s tasks on Tuesday night will be to reassure Americans that the economy is actually doing better than the polls they think show. The economy expanded 5.7 percent last year, the biggest boom since 1984, adding 6.7 million jobs and unemployment falling to 4 percent. But inflation hit 7.5 percent, its highest level in four decades, and dominated the national conversation.