Trump's Speech Isn't "State Of The Union" Address
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WASHINGTON (CBS NEWS) - President Donald Trump will deliver an address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress in Washington, the biggest speech he's given since his inaugural address back on January 20.
But don't call it a State of the Union address.
In almost every way, the speech Mr. Trump will give is identical to the State of the Union, the annual, wide-ranging speech a sitting president delivers before Congress early in the year. That speech is used to reflect on the progress of the previous year and help set the president's agenda for the coming year.
Mr. Trump is expected to do much of that in his speech to Congress: he'll outline his policy priorities and help frame the first year of his presidency, doing so before members of the Cabinet and the full Congress.
But a president's address during his or her first year in office is never referred to as a State of the Union address -- because after just a few weeks into his term, a new president isn't expected to know the full state of the union. Instead, the speech is more about looking toward future plans than recapping the progress of the last year.
Other recent presidents have delivered joint addresses to Congress on a similar timeline.