The State of the Union is...

Plus: McCarthy and Biden meet and the COVID emergency will end in May

View this email online Feb. 4, 2023 The Big Picture: The State of the Union is… Jim WatsonAFP via Getty Images President Biden goes into Tuesday’s State of the Union at an important – albeit tenuous – time in his presidency.  Two-thirds of Americans, on average, say the country is headed in the wrong direction. That makes it hard to convince people the State of the Union is “strong” – as presidents want to do in these speeches – even though inflation has been coming down and unemployment is at 3.4%, the lowest since May of 1969. A majority of the country continues to disapprove of the job Biden is doing overall and especially when it comes to some key issues. Looking at where he stands on several of those, Biden is under water in nearly every category polled in the past year, from the economy and inflation to guns, crime, immigration and foreign policy. Biden was partly elected to be a better steward of the coronavirus pandemic than his predecessor, and his ratings on the pandemic are generally among his best. But even those are down from where he was in the first year of his presidency. It makes for a precarious position for the president, who turned 80 in November, ahead of his expected run for reelection in 2024. But despite the prevailing sour sentiment among Americans, Democrats did better than expected in the midterms, partisanship seems to be fueling the negativity and when compared to former President Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP nomination, Biden is usually even or ahead in head-to-head polls and favorability ratings. After all, as Biden likes to say, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” — Domenico Montanaro, NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent Newsletter continues after sponsor message ICYMI: Top Stories Matt Rourke/AP McCarthy-Biden meeting: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden met for the first time this week to discuss, among other things, how to avoid the U.S. defaulting on its debts this summer. McCarthy said afterwards that the discussion was productive, but said he would not agree to a "clean" bill that would only raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts attached. The White House, for its part, said Biden welcomes discussions about government spending and the national debt — separate from each other. Omar removed from committee: House Republicans voted to remove Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, citing past comments she made about Israel. Democrats decried the move as political retribution for their votes to strip GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committee assignments in 2021. COVID emergency ending: The White House announced this week that it plans to end the federal health emergencies for COVID-19 on May 11. The move could have wide-ranging impacts on the availability and cost of tests, treatments and vaccines for the virus.  FBI searches Biden home: The Justice Department searched President Biden’s Rehoboth, Del., vacation home this week as part of an investigation into classified documents found among his personal files. Biden’s lawyer called it a “planned search” that had Biden’s “full support and cooperation,” and no documents with classified markings were found during the search.  Farm bill latest: The once-every-five year farm bill is a hodgepodge of policies crucial for many sectors of the economy. But a very short timeline and infighting among House Republicans are raising questions over the feasibility of passing a large measure in time. — Brandon Carter, NPR Politics social media producer A new way to give: NPR+ With NPR+, your recurring donation through plus.npr.org can unlock sponsor-free listening and even bonus episodes for popular NPR podcasts like Planet Money, The NPR Politics Podcast, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and more. Get NPR+ The Shot: A hero looks to heal Jane Hahn for NPR Brandon Tsay, 26 became a national hero late last month after disarming a mass shooter who had just killed 11 people and injured 10 others at a dance hall not far from the dance studio his family owns in California. Tsay's actions prevented the shooter from carrying out a second attack. Becki Peng, a 41-year-old Alhambra, Calif., resident who attended a recent event that recognized Tsay's actions, said that as soon as she saw he was going to attend, she knew she had to be there. "He's a real superhero — a real Asian superhero," she said. As NPR's Emma Bowman writes, Tsay is determined to use his newfound celebrity to refocus the attention on the victims of the shooting and help his community heal. And his spotlight hasn't dimmed. Next week, he'll head to the nation's capital to attend the State of the Union address as President Biden's guest of honor. — Heidi Glenn, NPR digital editor Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WMFE (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprpolitics@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Code Switch, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Politics emails. 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