Jan. 7 (UPI) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday formally invited President Joe Biden to give his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
She asked him to speak March 1.
“Thank you for your bold vision and patriotic leadership which have guided America out of crisis and into an era of great progress, as we not only recover from the pandemic but Build Back Better!” Pelosi wrote in a letter.
“In that spirit, I am writing to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1, to share your vision of the State of the Union.”
While it will be Biden’s first State of the Union address — president’s don’t typically give the speech in their first year in office — it won’t be his first time addressing a joint session of Congress.
He spoke on the House floor on April 28, laying out his vision for his first term in office and his plan to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The State of the Union address fulfills a constitutional requirement for the U.S. president to give Congress a periodic update on their legislative agenda. In early years, this was done in a written report.
Former President Woodrow Wilson began the tradition of delivering the address in person in 1913.
