The State of the Union Address is one of the most critical events in the United States political calendar. Apart from giving government accounts on performance milestones, tradition implies that the address is used to honor the achievements of ordinary Americans. The president invites the honorary invitees who seat with the first lady.
As the United States (US) President began his speech, Congressmen were very keen on contentious issues about immigration policies. An immigration standoff was recently witnessed in Congress when it failed to pass the funding bill which sent the government into a three-day shutdown.
Donald Trump laid down a four-pillar immigration programme which gave DACA beneficiaries a 10 to 12-year channel towards citizenship. The move is aimed at providing a basis through which Republicans could strike a deal with the Democrats on funding for the Southern border wall. The other four pillars included building the border wall, ending chain migration and concluding the visa lottery immigration programme. Earlier, Democrats mediated for DACA programme beneficiaries to be reinstated and avoid deportation to countries of origin. The standoff escalated when Chuck Schumer withdrew his bid to provide Trump with a $25 million wall fund.
During his address, Trump called upon everyone to put aside their differences and seek out common ground that will summon unity needed to deliver for the people who elected them.
On foreign policy, Trump denounced North Korea’s leadership for their reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles. He added that his administration is waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent the missiles from threatening America’s national security. Trump also reiterated that he had signed a deal to keep Guantanamo open after efforts of his predecessor, Barrack Obama to shut it down failed.
The US president also touched on infrastructure. He said that he wanted to compromise over a plan to rebuild aging bridges, roads, and other infrastructure. For this, he needed legislation to generate a minimum of $1.5 trillion through combining local, federal and state spending as well as private sector contributions.
Public Opinion from Americans
Despite his normal demeanor of negative tough talk, the American public adorned Donald Trump’s sober, measured approach. A snap survey carried out by CNN/SSRS concluded that 48% of Americans surveyed had a very positive response to the speech. 22% of Americans who took the survey adjourned that Trump was somewhat positive.
