FILE - President Joe Biden delivers a speech on voting rights at the National Constitution Center, on July 13, 2021, in Philadelphia. Biden often talks about how the U.S. must show democracies can deliver, but he has done little to press the case for voting rights, other than a speech in Philadelphia. The anniversary will bring this issue back to the forefront, and it remains a central challenge for the president. (Evan Vucci/AP)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday formally invited President Joe Biden to speak to a joint session of Congress in March.
The March 1 date is later than past State of the Union addresses as Washington and Congress have imposed various restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“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 to Biden Friday.
She added: “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.”
The address will mark Biden’s first State of the Union. As other presidents have done, Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress during his first year in office, but that speech is traditionally not called a State of the Union.
