Full U.S. Congress invited to Biden's State of Union speech as COVID
fades
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[February 18, 2022]
By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The full U.S.
Congress will be invited to President Joe Biden's State of the Union
address on March 1, a year after the invitation list to his address to
Congress was radically cut back to 200 due to the pandemic, officials
said on Thursday.
The White House hopes the sight of a packed House of Representatives
chamber, also filled with Senate members and other officials, will help
project a return to normalcy. Biden's handling of the lingering COVID-19
pandemic has dragged heavily on his popularity for months.
Individual members of Congress will not be able to bring guests as they
had previously, according to the Capitol's sergeant at arms. Everyone
will be expected to wear a mask.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had previously not committed to
whether the full membership of Congress would be invited due to COVID-19
restrictions.
Biden's management of the coronavirus health crisis has the approval of
47% of Americans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted
Jan 31-Feb 7. That is down from 52% approval in a mid-December poll.
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![](../images/021822PIX/news_I51.jpg)
President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress as Vice
President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House U.S. Rep. Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) applaud, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S.
April 28, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png) The State of the Union speech is a
constitutionally mandated executive update to both chambers of
Congress, a vehicle for presidential priorities, pomp and partisan
posturing.
In 2020, a bitter feud between the Republican then-President Donald
Trump and Speaker Pelosi boiled over with Trump denying her a
handshake and Pelosi ripping apart a copy of his remarks behind his
back.
In 2009, Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted, "You lie!" at
then-President Barack Obama during a speech to a joint session of
Congress to pitch for the Obamacare healthcare bill. Wilson was
widely condemned for the breach of protocol by both Republicans and
Democrats. He apologized publicly to the president.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard
Goller)
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