But President joe biden this evening said to give his first
official state of the union address amid growing international turmoil,
danger abroad as well as domestic issues.
And he's facing questions about his foreign policy
as those Russian troops continue to advance towards Kiev
and fighting continues in other cities.
Well, meanwhile, here at home, american consumers already facing high inflation,
wondering
how the president will tackle rising gas prices
as Russia's invasion puts pressure on oil supplies and exports.
Today we see oil prices surging to their highest level in at least seven years.
Well, joining me now is Eugene scott.
National Politics reporter at the Washington Post.
Eugene Eugene, thank you for coming on the show.
What is your expectation in terms of what we'll hear
from the president tonight with so much on the table?
Well,
we know the president is going to focus his attention a bit
on the conflict in the Ukraine between the country and Russia,
but he's going to try to convince americans that he
has things under control here in the United States.
Despite recent polling suggesting that many americans are
divided on how well his administration is doing
and issues like inflation and the economy, as you know,
it will be at the top of most americans minds.
And biden is going to try to convince him that
he can make progress in these areas and uh,
could make further progress than he currently has.
Uh, if voters support him and his party heading into the midterms later this year.
Well, the stock market certainly following
in the footsteps of the economy moving lower.
Of course, in the wake of this continued tension that we see
abroad and oil prices, I think prices at the pump for american consumers.
Really, top of mind, Eugene, how does he framed this Ukrainian conflict?
And do you expect that we see a deeper
pledge from the President tonight to combat Russia's aggression?
Well, earlier today, we heard chuck schumer,
the Senate majority leader talked about the
need for republicans to unite with democrats
to provide more aid for Ukraine so that they can fight this war themselves.
And I expect that biden will emphasize that he knows that it's
unpopular with americans for our own troops to get further involved,
but it's reminding people that the United States
has an obligation or perhaps even expectation globally,
to stand up for countries that perhaps are
having a more difficult time and defending themselves.
And so he'll try to make that argument in a way
that is winsome to americans without touching on the issues that
are, you know, unattractive about war for so many people in this country.
We also know from an economy standpoint,
he's probably gonna try to point to lower unemployment rates and some of
the victories that he believes that he has overseen in the economy,
despite what we're seeing with topics such as gas
prices and groceries and other concerns related to inflation,
even though we have heard the President now for close to two weeks,
mid fighting in Ukraine pledged that he will move to offset
and do everything in his power the power of the country
to minimize the impact of prices here at
home due to further global supply chain disruption.
I mean, can he outright control that?
Can the President outright, how the american people this evening
that prices will not rise further?
Well, he can't,
but he will promise likely that he will do all that he can to prevent
them from doing that and that he will try to work to lower those prices.
There's so many different factors involved,
including what corporations and the leaders of them
choose to do themselves that directly impact consumers
and shape costs costs for products beyond what
the President can promise and declare in Washington.
And I think what we're seeing democrats attempting to do,
especially some of the members of the party on the more left side of
the out is try to point fingers towards corporations and ask them to step up
and play a bigger role in making sure
the prices do not continue to increase instead of
relying solely on the president and democrats and even
republicans in Washington to make the final call.
Look, there's a lot on the docket,
we keep discussing that Eugene but build back better
reportedly expected to get dropped mention of that,
of course, as the President does try to reframe his domestic policy agenda just
a little over one year now
in office. How does he successfully do that. Leaving behind build back better.
Which never passed and was not a success for the president and
embraced new actions to try to continue to bring down prices,
improve this economy and of course provide the
support and infrastructure needed to make America competitive.
Well,
what we're going to see is him highlight parts of
build back better that we're more popular with this basin.
Maybe even some individuals in Congress with the hope
that those things can get some more traction individually.
Like we know that he's probably going to
call on Congress to increase the maximum pell grant
Award by $2000.
And so hoping that people in pursuing degrees will have a bit more relief than, uh,
they've had in recent years.
We know he wants to raise the federal minimum wage to about $15 an hour.
He's going to create a national paid family Leave program or at
least try to their plans to call for more support for veterans.
So even though build back better,
didn't make it across the line as he would have hoped.
He's going to try to advocate for some of the programs that
would have been put into place had the law become legislation,
uh, individually tonight.
All right. Eugene scott. I know it's gonna be a long night for you.
We appreciate you taking the time to join this afternoon.
Eugene's the National Politics Reporter at the Washington post