President Biden's State of the Union address will focus on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and U.S. economy
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to be a big issue Tuesday night during President Biden's State of the Union address.
A new CBS News poll found that those who plan to watch Mr. Biden's State of the Union address say that the war, U.S. economy, inflation, and the pandemic are among the top things they want to hear about tonight.
The poll also showed that 62% of Americans disapprove of Mr. Biden's handling of the economy.
When it comes to inflation, the response is even bleaker with 70% of the people surveyed disapproving of his response to the recent spike in prices.
To ease some of that economic pain, aides say Mr. Biden will call on Congress to help Americans by passing new child tax credits, expanding health care options, and boosting minimum wage for federal employees to $15.
The poll found that while the majority of Americans support U.S. actions in response to Russia, they are also concerned about a wider war.
But the president is downplaying Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to put nuclear forces on alert.
Days after imposing historic sanctions, the S&P Global Ratings downgraded Russia's credit rating.
Russian airlines are grounded by airspace restrictions across Europe but Ukrainian officials visiting Washington are pushing for more.
"We need to protect the sky because they are using the sky to shoot at us," Oleksandra Ustinova, a Ukraine citizen, told CBS News."They will probably erase Kyiv, Kharkiv and the other cities from the map."
She is pleading for the U.S. to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
"We need to protect the sky because they are using the sky to shoot at us," Ustinova said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said a no-fly zone is unlikely.
"A no-fly zone would require implementation, it would require deploying U.S. military to enforce, which would be a direct conflict and potentially war with Russia, which is something we are not planning to be a part of," Psaki said.
Both Republican and Democratic senators are focused on passing an emergency spending bill to get more weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
"Vladimir Putin will lose this battle. He will be a pariah amongst not only NATO and America but amongst all civilized nations around the world," Senator Elizabeth Warren said.
"The economic impacts on energy and food prices as a result of this conflict are not just going to go away in two, three, or four weeks. This is going to be a multi-year challenge," said Senator Marco Rubio.