2018 State of the Union: Tuesday, January 30 at 9pm ET

The president is slated to deliver his first State of the Union speech tomorrow evening. The speech will start at 9pm ET, though CSPAN will begin coverage at 8pm ET here for those watching online. Additionally, all major television news outlets will cover it on their channels and websites. While last week’s media coverage of the President focused largely on his presence at the Davos conference rather than on forecasts of the State of the Union, the Washington Post devoted a podcast on what to look for in the speech. Their analysis focused on how the President will explain the shut down and how he will address foreign policy – access the podcast and summary here. Here is a link to a fuller Washington Post article from this morning (January 29). Members might also be interested in Axios’ view that the tone of the speech will be cooperative and possibly will focus on the experiences of a gallery guest.

ANCOR will be paying attention to see if the President offers any insights into the following topics:

• What kind of actions one might expect from the Administration on health care and the safety net;
• How the Administration might approach implementation of tax reform;
• Workforce and labor initiatives that could provide opportunities to relieve the workforce crisis or unemployment amongst people supported.

Specific references to disability issues in the speech are unlikely because the State of the Union is usually a big-picture discussion, but we will make sure to summarize any topics of relevance to the IDD community and providers in next week’s ANCOR Capitol Correspondence. The next issue of the Correspondence will also include any statements of interest from the Democratic response to the State of the Union, which this year will be offered by U.S Representative Joe Kennedy (D-MA).