Trump expected to tout strong economy in State of the Union address
WASHINGTON -- President Trump makes his second appearance before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night to deliver his first State of the Union address. It's expected that he will tout America's economic growth and take credit for the nearly 40 percent rise in the stock market since his election.
"It's a big speech and an important speech," Mr. Trump said Monday. "Well, I hope it's going to be good. It's going to -- we worked on it hard. Cover a lot of territory, including our great success with the markets and with the tax cut."
For a president who often complains that his successes are underreported, the unfiltered primetime address is a key opportunity to push his agenda.
Advisers say Mr. Trump will echo many of the business-friendly themes he spoke about last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"America is open for business and we are competitive once again," he said at the gathering.
Some of the other highlights ahead for Tuesday night include a promise of improved trade deals, a $1.7 trillion plan to revitalize infrastructure and a request to Congress for $25 billion to construct a border wall with Mexico. In exchange, he'll offer to grant a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants.
"We're going to get something done," Mr. Trump said. "We hope it's going to be bipartisan because the Republicans really don't have the votes to get it done in any other way so it has to be bipartisan."
One thing absent from the speech: the Russia investigation hanging over the White House.
CBS News asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders if Mr. Trump feels there's a need to address the probe.
"I think we've addressed it every single day that we've been here," she said. "It's certainly not the thing that keeps people up at night. We'd love to talk about all of the things that do."
The president and first lady Melania Trump have invited 15 guests to attend the speech Tuesday night -- including two injured veterans and five individuals who have personal ties to the immigration crackdown including victims of the MS-13 gang members.