How to Watch President Biden’s Address

President Joe Biden is set to give his annual State of the Union address on Thursday, March 7, 2024

As it seems to happen every year, this State of the Union address is being delivered at a pretty critical time for President Biden. This year, it’s due to it being an election year. Following the Super Tuesday victories by former president Trump, it’s likely going to be Trump versus Biden in November. And this is going to be a prime opportunity for Biden to talk about his plans for the rest of 2024, and moving forward.

How do I watch Biden’s Joint Address to Congress?

President Biden’s first State of the Union will be broadcast virtually everywhere.

All of the major news networks will be airing it. That includes CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, PBS and C-SPAN. The White House is also going to be streaming the event on its YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter/X pages. As usual, the Twitter stream will show on-screen commentary from Administration officials and cabinet members. So, Twitter/X users are able to stay in the conversation about what’s happening.

YouTube will also air the speech from all of the major news networks, in addition to The White House. So if you have a news network that you prefer to watch, you can still do that on YouTube. Or you can stay neutral with The White House or C-SPAN, which won’t provide any analysis of the address and just show the address itself. While Fox News is typically republican leaning, and CNN or MSNBC is Democrat leaning.

When does it start?

The State of the Union will begin at 9 PM ET. Of course, many news networks will start their coverage earlier, talking about what they expect to hear from Biden in tonight’s speech and such.

As usual, the speech is expected to last about 60 to 90 minutes. So expect it to end around 10:30 PM ET. Following the speech, all of the talking heads from the news channels will be giving their analysis. That includes ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and many others.

Biden’s previous State of the Union and Joint Address to Congress were over an hour long. With a time of one hour and five minutes in 2021 (this was a Joint Address due to him having just taken office in January 2021). Around an hour and one minute in 2022 and one hour and 13 minutes in 2023. So we’d expect this to be over an hour but less than 90 minutes.

What will Biden talk about?

This is Biden’s third State of the Union, and depending on the outcome of the November election, it could be his last. It’s not often that a President gets the undivided attention of the Cabinet, Senate, US House of Representatives and the Supreme Court, all in the same room. So there’s lots of topics that will be covered.

Of course, a big one is going to be Biden’s age, as he goes into this Election year. Obviously, no president gets a free pass, but with Biden being 81 years old, he’s getting a lot more attention about his age than before. A big part of this is because he’s the oldest person to ever be president. However, his opponent – Donald Trump – is not much younger, currently at 77 years of age.

On the policy side of things, Biden will undoubtedly talk about new policy proposals. The State of the Union is typically where presidents get a chance to lay out their goals and rally Americans to support these plans. So far, The White House has not disclosed what Biden will specifically talk about, but we can expect him to reference unfinished business from his first term. Biden will also likely press for military assistance for Ukraine to reinforce American leadership overseas.

One of the big topics this year, going into the Election, is about the right to have an abortion. Under President Trump, the Supreme Court was able to roll back Roe v Wade, basically making it up to the States. This has caused a lot of issues for women who need to get an abortion due to health issues. Of course, the most high-profile case recently was Kate Cox who lives in Texas but was not able to get an abortion in her home state even though her health was in danger, and her fetus had a fatal condition. Obviously, Democrats are eager to demonstrate how the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade has limited reproduction rights. It’s also a topic that Democrats ran on in the mid-terms, and we’d expect the same for 2024.

Who’s delivering the republican response?

This year, it’ll be Senator Katie Britt of Alabama who will deliver the Republican Response to Biden’s speech. Senator Britt is 41 years of age, and has become the youngest female senator and many in the part believes she could be a rising star.

It’s likely that Britt will mention Trump in her speech and put him over as the party’s contender for the presidency this year. It’s also likely that Trump will provide a response to Biden’s speech over on Truth Social after the State of the Union is over.

Who will be attending?

The US Senate, the US House of Representatives, the Supreme Court Justices, and the President’s Cabinet are all in attendance. The First Lady typically has a box in the upper area of the room with many guests that the President will mention throughout his speech. This year, guests for the State of the Union include Kate Cox, a Texas woman who was unable to get an abortion in her home state even though her health was in danger and her fetus had a fatal condition.

Every year, there is also a designated survivor who will not be at the Capitol but instead in a bunker watching the speech with the Secret Service. We don’t yet know who the designated survivor is this year, which is usually disclosed right before the speech begins. However, last year it was Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

The naming of a Designated Survivor began in the 1960s, to coincide with the Cold War era, because of the threat of nuclear attacks. However, the identity of the designated survivor was not regularly made public until the 1980s.

The purpose of the Designated Survivor is in case there is a mass casualty or an attack on the Capitol during the speech. We’ve seen how this plays out in the ABC show Designated Survivor. Typically, a member of the cabinet is chosen every year, while the other party will choose someone from Congress to be their designated survivor. So that the government can continue in the aftermath.