State of the Union: What to Know

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump will address both chambers of Congress in what will be the first State of the Union since starting his second term in office.

Scheduled for 9:00 p.m., the speech will mark Trump’s second address to Congress since he reclaimed the White House. It comes roughly one year after his March 4, 2025 address to a joint session of Congress.

Unlike that speech, the State of the Union address is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Presidents have historically used the occasion to speak on the top issues of the day, their appraisal of the state of the U.S., their plans for the future, and legislative requests.

The address, on the year of the United States’ 250th anniversary, comes as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains shut down, reflecting a larger national debate over the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Meanwhile, a growing list of Democrats are vowing to skip the speech in favor of alternative events.

Here’s what to know.

The State of the Union address will be easily accessible through a variety of platforms.

Like all other official activities on the floor of Congress, the address will be streamed on C-SPAN. The White House will also provide a livestream of the event on its website and on YouTube page. NTD, The Epoch Times’s sister media outlet, will broadcast special coverage from 6 p.m. ET. 

It will also be streamed live on most major media broadcast channels.

The State of the Union is an annual message mandated by Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution in which the president reports to Congress on the nation’s current condition and lays out his legislative priorities.

Trump is expected to review his economic accomplishments, including record-breaking achievements like the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing 50,000 points. He could also discuss the Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down his tariff authority, and his plans moving forward on that front.

He will also likely highlight reductions in immigration flows at the southern border with Mexico. Trump has previously boasted that illegal immigration along that border has reached near-zero levels.

The address is also considered a prime opportunity for the president to lay out his legislative proposals.

This year, Trump is expected to encourage passage of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a bill intended to require proof of citizenship in order to vote.

The event is held in the House rotunda, the larger of the Capitol complex’s two legislative chambers.

Attendees historically have included the entirety of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. However, multiple Democrats have vowed to boycott the event to attend competing programming.

Because the event is attended by almost the entirety of the presidential line of succession—including, this year, Vice President JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate President pro tempore Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and most U.S. cabinet secretaries—it’s considered a National Special Security Event.

To ensure presidential succession in the event of a catastrophe, a cabinet official in the line of succession—the “designated survivor”—will be taken to a secure location until the address wraps up. Their identity is usually disclosed around the time the address begins.

Cabinet officials in the line of succession who will likely attend the speech include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

Last year, Collins was the designated survivor.

The president and members of Congress are permitted to invite guests to attend the event.

This year, Trump has invited the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Olympic Hockey teams to attend the event as his special guests following their gold medal victories over Canada.

Democratic lawmakers have invited several survivors of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, including Jess Michaels and the family of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to demand legal consequences for those named in the files.

A growing list of Democrats has announced plans to skip the event entirely this year in favor of an event dubbed a “People’s State of the Union.”

Most recently, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) announced he would skip the speech in favor of the nearby counter-programming event.

According to the organizers’ website, other announced attendees of the “People’s State of the Union” boycotting Trump’s address include Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), as well as Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).

Historically, the out-of-power party has delivered a response to the State of the Union delivered by the president.

This year, Democrats’ response will be delivered by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

The response will take place immediately following the main address. It will be streamed by many of the platforms streaming the address, including C-SPAN.

Spanberger, a former House lawmaker, became Virginia’s first female governor after winning a landslide election to the governor’s mansion last November, taking control of the legislature and increasing Democrats’ control of each.

—Joseph Lord 

BOOKMARKS

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