White House declines to say whether Biden will discuss Laken Riley at State of the Union
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoided addressing a question about whether President Biden plans to address Laken Riley's murder at his State of the Union address on Thursday.
President Biden will give his second State of the Union address on Thursday, when he’s expected to tout his administration’s accomplishments and set goals for the future in front of a Congress that is one of the most politically fractured in modern history.
Biden is making his case to a Democrat-dominated Senate that’s largely followed his lead on major legislation and a House Republican majority that’s actively investigating him for impeachable crimes.
The date of the speech, March 7, is the latest a State of the Union address has ever been delivered.
It’s just the second time a president’s in-person address to a joint session of Congress was not delivered in January or February. Biden delivered his first address to Congress on March 1, 2022.
JIM BANKS CALLS ON BIDEN TO 'PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE' LAKEN RILEY AT SOTU
President Biden visits the Texas border in Brownsville to remark on immigration reform on Feb. 29. Biden is delivering the State of the Union on Thursday, the latest in-person presidential speech to a joint session of Congress ever delivered. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
It comes after Washington officials spent the first two months of 2024 scrambling to avert a government shutdown while also warring over Biden’s supplemental foreign aid request for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, a war rages in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel; Ukraine is beginning to feel the drain of U.S. resources; and China continues to stir concerns it could move to curb Taiwan’s independence.
There’s also the issue of the worsening border crisis back home, and House Republicans told Fox News Digital they want to see Biden address it Thursday night.
Democrats, meanwhile, are urging Biden to highlight his accomplishments on infrastructure, the economy and other issues.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 leader in the House, said he was skeptical Biden could adequately address the crises he is facing this year.
Border patrol agents process asylum seekers at an improvised camp near the U.S.-Mexico border in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on Feb. 20. Republicans are urging Biden to address the border crisis in his speech. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
"No amount of scripted rhetoric from the White House will change the fact that the real State of the Union has been defined by the unprecedented crisis at our southern border, total chaos overseas and lingering economic struggles caused by Joe Biden’s failed policies," Emmer told Fox News Digital.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents a district Biden won in 2020, said, "I want to hear him address the border issue with some honesty."
"The No. 1 issue is the broken border, which has led to the murders of innocent Americans by migrants released into the country and the epidemic of fentanyl overdoses. President Biden has the power to fix it but refuses to do so and just blames Congress," Bacon told Fox News Digital.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., told Fox News Digital, "Thursday night is sell night. The President needs to reiterate just how much he’s accomplished to the American people. His bipartisan legislative accomplishments are the best in generations. From the infrastructure bill to gun safety, building semiconductors and helping our veterans, the President knows how to get stuff done, and the economy is on the upswing with consumer confidence soaring post pandemic."
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said he doubted President Biden could say anything to adequately address the crises at home and abroad. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
A House Democratic aide urged Biden to "save the ‘democracy is on the line’ argument for another day."
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"Tell the American people concretely how their life is better today than it was in 2020, with a focus on lower insulin prices, increased manufacturing jobs and better health care for veterans. Those are tangible accomplishments, and there is no excuse not to be trumpeting them every chance he gets," the aide told Fox News Digital.
"For the area where things aren’t better, like border security and reproductive rights, don’t sugarcoat it. Admit where the problems exist and make crystal damn clear both what you are for and what the Republicans are against."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
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