President Joe Biden will tell Americans on Tuesday that US democracy is "bruised" but "unbroken" in a State of the Union speech appealing to Republican opponents to unite in building a blue-collar economy, according to excerpts from the White House, reports BSS.
Biden, who is expected soon to announce a bid for a second term, despite being already 80 years old, will use the address before the full Congress and tens of millions of television viewers to underline his centrist, populist vision, White House officials said.
Referring to his predecessor Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Biden will say that US democracy is "bruised" after facing "its greatest threat since the Civil War."
However, today "our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken," he will declare, according to the excerpts released in advance.
Biden will tout surging employment figures and tell Americans that his economic plan aims to rebuild the country's manufacturing base, restoring "pride" to "forgotten" industrial communities.
"Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades too many people have been left behind or treated like they're invisible," he will say.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said among Biden's proposals in the speech will be a new "billionaire tax."
And amid deep political divisions, Biden will urge Republicans now holding the majority in the House of Representatives to "unite the country."
"Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that's always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation," he will say.
The White House announced the guests of First Lady Jill Biden for the speech will include Ukraine's ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and rock band mega star and HIV/AIDS campaigner Bono.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
