U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to spend time addressing immigration and his proposed expansion of the wall on the border with Mexico during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
It remains unclear if Trump will use the address to declare a national emergency at the border, an action he has hinted at taking.
The president is increasingly frustrated with Congress, where his rivals, the Democratic Party, are blocking funding for the barrier he campaigned on in 2016.
The speech became a political football after Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said the president could not deliver the address during the partial shutdown of the federal government, which lasted for more than a month, the longest in history.
The shutdown was over funding for the wall.
There is a chance the government could again cease many functions on Feb. 15, when appropriations again run out.
The Democrats and Trump’s Republicans appear no closer to a compromise.
The president has taken to regularly slamming Pelosi and in a series of recent interviews repeatedly said she is “very bad for our country.’’
A senior U.S. administration official said that Trump will “present a path forward’’ on the wall impasse during the televised speech to both houses of Congress.
Foreign affairs, including the crisis in Venezuelan as well as the trade wars, especially with China, are expected to be addressed.
The wind-down of U.S. troops from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East is also on the agenda.
The U.S. constitution requires that the president provide updates on the state of the union, “from time to time,’’ and in the 20th century a tradition emerged of a speech to a joint session of Congress. (dpa/NAN)