State of the Union 2022 - Boebert doubles down on heckle as veteran’s widow calls for her removal

President Joe Biden is slated to deliver his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday after more than a year in office.

Mr Biden offered a similar speech last April on the eve of his 100th day in the White House, where he touched on a range of issues including the coronavirus pandemic.

However that speech, before both houses of Congress, was labeled a “joint address” instead of a State of the Union (SOTU), in accordance with tradition for previous US presidents.

US president Joe Biden has rewritten the State of the Union address he is scheduled to deliver on Tuesday in response to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine last week.

Mr Biden was reportedly planning to refocus on his domestic agenda, after senator Joe Manchin effectively killed his signature Build Back Better legislation. White House chief of staff Ron Klain is said to have told Democrats that the president would focus on inflation, which is at a 40-year high after two years of the pandemic.

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has scrambled these plans.

Eric Garcia reports for The Independent from Washington, DC.

The fencing around the U.S. Capitol is back up for the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Police cars with flashing lights are stationed at major intersections and highways. The US National Guard is on standby.

It’s the new normal.

US president Joe Biden will give his first State of the Union address to Congress on the evening of Tuesday 1 March after accepting the customary formal invitation for that date from House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Joe Sommerlad has all the details of the landmark address.

Per the White House:

President Biden knows that we need to move even faster to combat climate change—and that to meet the moment and fully seize the economic opportunity in front of us, Congress must act. In his first State of the Union address, the President will call on Congress to deliver on a legislative agenda for clean energy and climate action that has overwhelming support from the American people—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Specifically, the President will lift up the benefits we can secure for American consumers, companies, and communities by enacting critical investments and tax credits for domestic clean energy manufacturing and deployment. He will also highlight how the investments and tax credits would cut energy costs for American families an average of $500 per year.

As part of the President’s unwavering support for climate solutions, these investments will reduce emissions, lower costs for families, create good-paying jobs for workers, and advance environmental justice.

The State of the Union is one of the most choreographed events in American politics. We all know the drill: The president walks down down the House chamber, shakes a lot of hands (pre-Covid), takes his place in front of the vice president and the speaker of the House, and delivers a carefully prepared speech. Overall, it’s a pretty bland affair.

But some moments have stood out. Every once in a long while (or more often in the Trump years), something happens that is so bizarre, or unscripted, or just uncomfortable, that it manages to break through the tedium and become memorable.

Nathan Place has the details.

A convoy of truckers who were heading from California to Washington DC for Joe Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) address have been told to find another protest fleet after theirs fell apart before its first stop.

Gino Spocchia reports.

President Biden said definitively that Americans need not worry about the threat of nuclear war as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine persists.

A reporter asked Mr Biden on Monday if Americans should “be worried about nuclear war”.

“No,” Mr Biden responded.

Eric Garcia reports for The Independent from Washington, DC.

Joe Biden will go into his first State of the Union address with a majority Americans concerned about the state of the president’s mental capacity, according to a new poll.

A new poll by ABC News/The Washington Post released on the eve of Mr Biden’s speech found that 54 per cent of Americans don’t believe he has the “mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president”.

Justin Vallejo reports.

Several trucks involved in the “People’s Convoy” – the American answer to Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” – were involved in a crash on their way to protest in Washington DC.

The drivers are largely right-wing critics of the Joe Biden administration who oppose vaccine mandates.

Graig Graziosi reports.