State of the Union 2026 recap: Trump touted economic gains

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, in giving the Democratic response to the State of the Union address, said Trump “did what he always does: he lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted, and he offered no real solutions to our nation’s pressing challenges, many of which he is actively making worse.”

“We did not hear truth from our president,” Spanberger said, speaking from Williamsburg, Va.

She said that Trump, despite his promises, had made life less affordable for Americans with his tariff policies, and by “cutting food programs for hungry kids.”

Spanberger also criticized Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, which have led to the arrest and detainment of U.S. Citizens and “people who aspire to be Americans.”

“They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies,” she said.

And “over the last year, through DOGE mass firings and the appointment of deeply unserious people to our nation’s most serious positions, our president has endangered the long and storied history of the United States of America being a force for good,” Spanberger said.

— Dan Mangan

Trump presented two military veterans, retired Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams and Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, the Medal of Honor during his speech and then joked about giving it to himself. The Medal of Honor is the highest U.S. military honor.

“I’ve always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed I’m not allowed to give it to myself,” Trump said. “And I wouldn’t know why I would be taking it. If they ever open up that law, I will be with you someday.”

Trump didn’t serve in the military.

Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during testimony to the House Oversight Committee in 2019, said that during the 2016 presidential campaign, “Mr. Trump said he did not consider Vietnam veteran, and Prisoner of War, Senator John McCain to be ‘a hero’ because he likes people who weren’t captured.”

“At the same time, Mr. Trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the Vietnam draft,” Cohen testified. “Mr. Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur. But when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said that there was no surgery.”

— Dan Mangan

Tonight’s State of the Union address, nearly 108 minutes, is the longest on record. Trump held the previous record, too: Last year, his joint address to Congress lasted exactly 100 minutes, according to the American Presidency Project.

During his first term, Trump’s longest address was 82 minutes in 2019.

Former President Bill Clinton gave an 89-minute address in 2000, now the third longest in history. Of the nine longest State of the Union speeches, five belong to Trump and four belong to Bill Clinton.

— Megan Sauer and Emily Wilkins

Reuters reported that Aliya Rahman — a guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — who was forcibly removed from her car by federal immigration agents during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, was ushered from the chamber Tuesday during Trump’s address. It was not immediately clear why she was removed.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

Trump said he prefers to make a deal with Iran but its leaders have not met U.S. demands.

“We are in negotiations with them, they want to make a deal but we haven’t heard those secret words — we will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

The president said Iran’s missiles threaten Europe and U.S. bases overseas. He claimed Tehran was working to “build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy but one thing is certain — I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

— Spencer Kimball

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who led the charge for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files by the Department of Justice, had planned to sit together in a bipartisan display.

But they lost their seats before Trump started speaking.

“I was proud to stand with Rep. Massie and be with him right before the speech,” Khanna said in a statement.

“Our seats on the aisle were taken so we weren’t able to sit together during the speech.”

Lawmakers stake out aisle sets in the House chamber hours before the annual speech begins. Aisle seats allow them to shake the president’s hand on entry and departure and to be seen on television.

“But we wanted to be together to send a message to the Epstein survivors that we wont stop fighting for them,” Khanna said.

— Justin Papp

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is missing from the chamber during tonight’s address and seems to be the designated survivor for two years in a row, Politico reported.

One Cabinet secretary skips attending the State of the Union, instead spend the night in a secure location, in case a disaster should occur when the president, vice president, most members of Congress and most Cabinet secretaries are in the same room.

— Megan Sauer

West Virginia National Guardsman Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was shot in Washington during Trump’s deployment of the guard to the city and survived, is in attendance at the State of the Union.

Wolfe was honored by Trump along with the late Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who was killed in the attack that wounded Wolfe. Beckstrom’s parents are attending the speech.

Trump said he would ask for both Wolfe and Beckstrom to be presented with the “award created by our late great President George Washington himself. It’s called the Purple Heart.” Wolfe, who attended with his mother, and Beckstrom’s parents were awarded the medals during the speech.

— Garrett Downs

Trump said “there has been a tremendous renewal in faith, Christianity and belief in God,” during his presidencies.

There is no clear evidence indicating a religious revival among young people, according to data and analysis from the Pew Research Center published Dec. 8. But after decades of decline, the number of religious U.S. adults, including the Christian share of the population, started to level off and has remained relatively stable since 2020.

— Megan Sauer

Trump told Democrats in the House chamber, “You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up,” after he asked lawmakers to “stand up and show your support” for the idea that the first duty of the U.S. government is “to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Republicans had stood and loudly clapped at Trump’s call, with some looking over at their stony-faced colleagues among the Democratic side of the room. State of the Union addresses routinely feature one side of the chamber standing and cheering when their party’s president is in power while the other side sits without applauding.

“As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump said.

“These people are crazy. They’re crazy,” Trump later said. “Democrats are destroying the country, but we stopped it in the nick of time.”

— Dan Mangan

Trump calls for a ban on congressional stock trading, leading to a rare bipartisan moment of applause.

“As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” Trump said.

In January, a House panel approved a bill along party lines that would ban lawmakers from buying new stocks. Many Democrats called the bill too weak and would still allow lawmakers to benefit off of insider information.

— Emily Wilkins

Trump said he has secured a pledge from technology companies that they will provide their own power for artificial intelligence data centers.

“They can build their own power plants as part of their factory so that no one’s prices will go up,” the president said. “In many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community, and very substantially down.”

Data centers are facing political blowback in communities across the U.S. as people blame the facilities’ tremendous energy demand for rising electricity prices.

“I’m telling them they can build their own plant,” Trump said. “They’re going to produce their own electricity.”

— Spencer Kimball

Trump said his policies caused egg prices to fall by 60%. Egg prices are down by 34.2% from a year ago, according to the Consumer Price Index published Feb. 13.

In January 2025, some retailers were charging more than $9 for a dozen eggs.

— Megan Sauer

Trump is driving home his ask for Congress to codify limits on how many homes large corporations can own.

“I’m asking Congress to make that ban permanent, Because homes for people, really that’s what we want,” Trump said.

Hitting a populism note, he added “We want homes for people, not for corporations. Corporations are doing just fine.”

— Emily Wilkins

Keeping with his affordability focus, Trump is touting parts of his health care plan. That includes ending tax credits for insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act and instead increasing access to health savings accounts.

“I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a much lower cost,” Trump said.

Congress debated a health care package earlier this year, but was unable to reach a consensus. The issues of health care affordability and access to medical care are strong ones for Democrats, but have divided Republicans.

— Emily Wilkins

Trump says Democrats, who are using the phrase “affordability crisis” to point to the rising cost of living in the U.S. last year, caused the increased prices.

“You caused that problem. You caused that problem,” he says.

Affordability is a key talking point for both Democrats and Republicans as the country heads into November’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

— Megan Sauer

Trump said he believes his tariffs will replace the income tax, just days after the Supreme Court struck down a large swath of his tariff authority.

“As time goes by, I believe that tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” the president said.

Trump has in the past said he believes income tax could be replaced by his tariffs. Economic policy experts are skeptical that such a move is possible. Tariffs are paid by importers of goods to the U.S.

— Garrett Downs

“This is something that’s so special has taken off and gone through the roof,” Trump said of Trump accounts, a new type of savings account for children.

“Millions will be pre-funded courtesy of the U.S. Treasury,” the president said.

The tax-deferred Trump accounts, also known as 530A accounts, include a $1,000 contribution from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for kids born between 2025 and 2028.

“With modest additional contributions, these young people’s accounts could grow to over $100,000 or more” by age 18, the president also said.

So far, families have signed up about 3 million kids for Trump accounts, according to the Department of the Treasury.

— Jessica Dickler

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, said he wanted to Trump to see his handmade sign, which said “Black People Aren’t Apes,” before he was ejected from the House chamber for the second time in two years during a speech by Trump.

“We must take a stand against this level of invidious discrimination,” Green told reporters outside the chamber.

“I want him to see it, up close,” Green said. “Judging from the expression on his face, he got the message.”

“He saw it, he got the message.”

— Dan Mangan and Justin Papp

Trump says he will soon award Team USA men’s hockey goalie Connor Hellebuyck, 32, who blocked 41 shots on goal in Sunday’s gold medal game at the Olympics, with the President Medal of Freedom.

The award is given at the discretion of the president and typically given as a lifetime achievement award.

—Megan Sauer

“Inflation is plummeting,” Trump said in his speech. “In 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation to the lowest level in more than five years.”

Inflation is a measure of how fast prices are rising for consumers. The consumer price index, or CPI, a key measure of inflation, rose 2.4% in January from a year earlier, according to the latest reading by Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down from 2.7% in December and lower than expected.

Excluding volatile food and energy, the core CPI was up 2.5%, the lowest level since April 2021. The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, aims for an annual inflation rate of around 2% over the long term.

—Jessica Dickler

Team USA men’s hockey team is attending the State of the Union, clad in their recently won Olympic gold medals, as some Congress members chanted, “USA, USA, USA.”

Twenty of the 25 members of the men’s hockey team planned to attend. Trump shouted out the women’s hockey team, saying they will soon come to the White House, though the team rejected an invitation to tonight’s address.

— Megan Sauer

Trump said the U.S. has received more than 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.

The U.S. has taken control of Venezuela’s oil exports after a military raid that captured former President Nicolas Maduro in January.

“We just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil,” Trump said.

— Spencer Kimball

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, held up a sign reading “BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES!” as Trump walked into the chamber. And for a second year in a row, he was ejected from a Trump speech to Congress.

He continued to hold up the sign as he walked down the center aisle while he was ushered out of the chamber to chants of “USA! USA!” The sign referenced a racist post on Trump’s Truth Social account earlier this month that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

Green was removed from the chamber during Trump’s 2025 joint address before Congress for shouting at Trump during his remarks.

— Emily Wilkins

Trump shook hands with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., immediately before taking the stage to deliver his address.

Fetterman, who is known for wearing gym shorts and a hoodie, donned a suit for the State of the Union.

— Garrett Downs

Trump opened the main section of his speech by saying, “members of Congress and my fellow Americans, our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.”

“Less than five months from now, our country will celebrate an epic milestone in American history, the 250th anniversary of our glorious American independence,” Trump said.

“This July 4, we will mark two and a half centuries of liberty and triumph, progress and freedom in the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth, and you’ve seen nothing yet. We’re going to do better and better and better,” he said.

“This is the golden age of America.”

— Dan Mangan

Trump arrived at the House chamber to deliver the State of the Union address to loud applause.

A number of Democrats could be seen standing, including Sen. Chuck Schumer.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is the Democratic designated survivor, a person who sits out of a major event to ensure a surviving successor to lead the government should disaster occur.

“I’ve been selected as a designated survivor for tomorrow’s State of the Union, so I won’t be there in person, but I’ll be watching,” Thompson wrote in a post on X Monday. “Americans deserve accountability for the militarization of ICE, terrorization of our communities and killing of American citizens.”

— Megan Sauer

Trump entered the House chamber to broad applause from members of Congress.

— Dan Mangan

Excerpts of Trump’s speech released in advance show he plans to call on Congress to make permanent his ban on major investors buying more single family homes.

Trump signed an executive order that would ban companies that own more than 100 single-family homes from purchasing more, with some exceptions.

Both the House and Senate have passed bipartisan housing bills, and will be considering whether to include Trump’s proposal in a final bill.

— Emily Wilkins

Justices of the Supreme Court arrived in the House chamber for Trump’s speech, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett were both appointed by Trump. Kagan was the sole member of the court’s liberal minority to attend.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson were missing from the high court’s retinue.

— Garrett Downs

A survivor of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein blasted FBI Director Kash Patel for traveling to the Winter Olympics in Italy over the weekend rather than investigating potential accomplices of Epstein.

“Why are there no investigations when there are plenty of people in these files to investigate?” survivor Dani Bensky, who plans to attend Trump’s speech, asked at a news conference.

“Why is the FBI director out there partying like a college kid when he should be investigating the vast criminal enterprise?” Bensky said. “This administration needs to do better.”

“There are two cases happening here, two cases of abuse,” she said.

“The first case is one that we endured while we were ensnared in the largest sex trafficking ring that this country has known to date,” Bensky said. “And the second is the abuse of our government. They’re covering everything up and protecting power, not the young and the vulnerable, as we prepare to attend the State of the Union, survivors and this country have so many questions that need to be answered.”

— Dan Mangan

Outside of the Capitol and down the National Mall, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., takes the stage at the People’s State of the Union.

“I’m not at the State of the Union speech tonight because these are not normal times, and Democrats have to stop behaving normally.”

Murphy, the leading Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security, said the department will not get “one more dime until they start following the law.”

— Emily Wilkins

Vice President JD Vance and the Senate have arrived in the House chamber, where Trump will deliver his State of the Union.

The vice president shook hands with members of Congress as he walked toward his seat behind the podium next to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump has not yet arrived in the chamber, but has left the White House.

— Garrett Downs

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on X that he will have Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison as his guest for Trump’s address.

Ellison’s company has raised its bid to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery by a dollar to $31 per share, WBD disclosed hours earlier.

Paramount is competing against Netflix, which has offered to buy WBD’s studio and streaming business.

Ellison’s father is Larry Ellison, a billionaire friend of Trump, who over the weekend told Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice, an Obama administration official, or “pay the consequences.”

Trump’s demand came in response to an X post by far-right activist Laura Loomer, who urged him to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger right now” after Rice said it is “not going to end well” for corporations that “bent the knee to Trump.”

Trump previously said he would not weigh in with federal regulators on their review of any takeover of WBD by either Paramount or Netflix.

— Dan Mangan

Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources and the named plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that ruled against Trump’s tariff agenda, is the guest of Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill.

On Friday, the Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 ruling that the president wrongfully invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to implement a large portion of his trade policies.

“Rick Woldenberg is just one of thousands of American business owners whose companies, small and large, have been severely affected by President Trump’s illegal, chaotic, and harmful tariffs over the past year,” Schneider said in a statement.

After the high court ruled in Learning Resources’ favor, Woldenberg said he was “obviously feeling validated and vindicated.” 

“I’m proud to attend this year’s State of the Union with Rep. Schneider and stand up for the business owners like me who have been fighting back against the IEEPA tariffs that are raising costs, forcing cuts in investment, and driving prices higher for everyday Americans,” Woldenberg said. 

— Jessica Dickler

Trump left the White House to travel to the Capitol for his speech.

— Dan Mangan

Former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris told podcaster Sharon McMahon on Monday that she may run for president again, according to a video that began circulating online Tuesday.

“I haven’t decided,” Harris said on a potential run. “I might.”

Harris, who lost to Trump in 2024 after former President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, has so far declined to rule in or out whether she will run in 2028. She recently passed on a potential bid to run for California governor, a move that prompted speculation she will run for president again.

A slew of Democrats are likely to run in 2028, making for a crowded Democratic primary. Harris ran for the nomination in 2020, but ultimately dropped out and was later selected as Biden’s running mate.

— Garrett Downs

Trump is planning to award a 100-year-old Korean War hero with the Medal of Honor tonight, CBS News reported.

Capt. E. Royce Williams singlehandedly fought seven Soviet MiG fighter jets in a 35-minute dogfight. He shot down four of the fighters before running out of ammunition and returning to a U.S. aircraft carrier in his badly damaged warplane.

The incident was classified for decades to avoid escalation with the Soviets, whose involvement in the Korean War was a secret at the time.

“This still stands out as one of the most exceptional and brave feats of naval aviation in our history,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a social media post. Kelly, himself a former naval aviator, described 35 minutes of aerial combat as an “eternity for a fighter pilot.”

Kelly and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, passed a law last year waiving time limits so Williams could receive a Medal of Honor.

“It looks like that will finally happen tonight, and I couldn’t be more proud to salute a great American,” Kelly said.

— Spencer Kimball

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II upcoming lunar spaceflight mission, including Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, are guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson at tonight’s address.

The four astronauts are scheduled to fly to the moon next month. It is the first such mission in more than 50 years.

“The Artemis II Crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — will embark on this historic journey carrying forward the hopes and dreams of all humanity,” Johnson said in a statement.

The congressional leader is also bringing the family of Marc Brock, a Louisiana police officer who was killed in the line of duty, and the brother of Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli diplomat who was killed in an act of antisemitism, among other guests.

— Jessica Dickler

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark is boycotting Trump’s speech, joining a number of her fellow party members.

Clark, who represents a Massachusetts district, is the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the House.

“Rather than listen to Donald Trump lie to the American people, I will be hearing from the people of my district about their personal experiences with skyrocketing costs, new barriers to health care, dismantled Social Security services, and brutal cuts to medical research,” Clark said in a statement.

“Donald Trump’s presidency has been one broken promise after another, and the people of this country and the Commonwealth deserve so much better,” she said.

— Dan Mangan

Step aside over FanDuel and DraftKings, House Speaker Mike Johnson is setting tonight’s line.

Johnson, who will host Trump for his speech in the House chamber, has set the “over/under” for the duration of that address at 90 minutes, NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman reveals.

Trump more than cracked that mark in 2025, setting a record of 100 minutes for the longest presidential address to Congress. But that was a joint address to Congress and not a State of the Union.

Bill Clinton, who holds the record for the second-longest speech to Congress by a president, stopped one minute short of 90 minutes in 2000.

Trump and Clinton hold the top eight spots for length of addresses to Congress.

— Dan Mangan

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., leaders in the fight over the last year to release files related to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will sit together at tonight’s State of the Union.

A spokesperson for Khanna confirmed ahead of the address that Massie would sit on the Democrat’s side of the House chamber.

It is a rare bipartisan display at an event where Democrats and Republicans are usually segregated on opposite sides of the room. Massie has had a contentious relationship with GOP leaders, often voting against priority legislation and instigating the release of the Epstein files, which Trump had long opposed.

—Justin Papp

The New Democrat Coalition, the largest Democratic caucus in the House, sent a letter on Tuesday to Trump calling on him to refund billions of dollars collected from tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court last week.

“The economic damage President Trump has already done to business investment, manufacturing, relationships with our allies and trading partners, and working families’ budgets will linger for years to come,” states the letter, which was signed by more than 40 members of the caucus, which is mostly centrist Democrats.

Democrats in both the House and Senate introduced legislation after the ruling aimed at compelling refunds to businesses.

— Justin Papp

More than 30 Democratic lawmakers will skip Trump’s State of the Union speech and attend an alternative event organized by progressive activist groups.

They include Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Adam Schiff of California, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

The protest event, pitched as a “People’s State of the Union,” will be livestreamed starting at 8 p.m. ET. It can be viewed at the MediasTouch YouTube channel or at MoveOn.org.

A full list of lawmakers attending the protest event can be viewed here.

Meanwhile, Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Nancy Mace of South Carolina plan to show their support for victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during the State of the Union, according to Axios.

Massie will sit with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on the Democratic side of the aisle during Trump’s speech, a source familiar with their plans told Axios.

— Spencer Kimball

State of the Union Bingo 2026 is going viral.

The annual address by a U.S. president can be a bit of a slog, but the League of Women Voters is looking to jazz things up for viewers by offering a downloadable set of Bingo cards so they can play along at home against family and friends.

The cards offer a wide range of words and terms that Trump might say during the speech, including “Make America Great Again,” “government shutdown,” “witch hunt,” “ICE arrests,” “extremists,” “very very special” — and the ever-popular “Fake News!”

—Dan Mangan

Trump will call for Congress to advance new personal and corporate tax cuts through the party-line budget reconciliation process during his State of the Union address, he told reporters during a luncheon at the White House.

CNBC’s Joe Kernen attended the gathering and reported on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” that the president laid out plans to advocate for new personal and corporate tax cuts. Public polls indicate the president is losing ground on how he is handling the economy, while Democrats are making gains on a message of affordability ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Reconciliation is a parliamentary process that allows a party in control of the House, Senate and White House to skirt the Senate filibuster’s 60-vote threshold and advance certain legislation along party lines. Republicans used it to pass their “One Big Beautiful Bill” tax and spending measure in 2025.

However, advancing any legislation through reconciliation is now significantly more challenging given House Speaker Mike Johnson’s shrinking margin in the lower chamber. Republicans hold a 218-214 vote majority in the House, which is effectively a one-vote margin.

—Garrett Downs

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is set to deliver the response to Trump for the Democratic Party.

Spanberger will give her rebuttal from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

The former CIA intelligence officer and member of Congress is the first woman to serve as Virginia’s governor. She took office in January.

—Dan Mangan

The U.S. men’s hockey team will attend tonight’s State of the Union address. Trump invited them by calling their locker room after winning an Olympic gold medal against Canada on Sunday.

Trump called Speaker Johnson on Sunday to inform him the entire men’s hockey team may come to the event, Johnson said at a press conference earlier Tuesday.  “Somehow, some way, we’ll squeeze in the hockey players tonight,” Johnson joked.

Notably, the U.S. women’s hockey team, who also won Olympic gold, will not be at tonight’s address. The team expressed gratitude and rejected the White House’s invitation, citing “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments,” in a statement from USA Hockey released Monday.

The locker room exchange between Trump and the men’s hockey team has incited controversy online, after Trump noted he had to extend an invitation to the women’s team, too. If he didn’t, “I do believe I probably would be impeached,” he joked over the call. Some of the players laughed.

“Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today,” Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in gold medal game against Canada, said in an interview with the Daily Mail on Monday, adding: “I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support [the women’s team], how proud we are of them. The same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”

—Megan Sauer

Trump will announce a pledge from the top technology companies to pay higher electricity prices in communities where they are building new data centers, a White House official confirmed.

Microsoft promised in January that households won’t pay more for electricity due to the company’s data centers. The pledge came hours after Trump said he was working with Microsoft to ensure utility bills don’t increase due to the artificial intelligence boom.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade and manufacturing advisor, said earlier this month that the White House will force tech companies to “internalize the cost” of data centers.

Electricity prices are increasing in many regions of the U.S. as the grid faces high demand and tight supply. Data centers are facing growing political blowback as people blame them for higher utility bills.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Trump’s plan to announce the tech sector pledge.

—Spencer Kimball

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday boiled down Trump’s second term to three words: “costs, chaos, corruption.”

“Tonight the American people will see a president whose ego does not let him see reality. The reality of the pain in America because of Trump’s policies,” Schumer said at a Democratic press conference ahead of the State of the Union.

“Americans, frankly, don’t care what Trump has to say at the State of the Union because they’re too worried about the state of their wallets,” Schumer said.

Trump is expected to talk up the U.S. economy in Tuesday night’s address.

“We’ve seen for the last 13 months under Donald Trump, a Republican majority and the White House working together to put billionaires first at the expense of working families,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who will deliver Democrat’s Spanish-language rebuttal to Trump’s speech.

—Justin Papp

Trump’s address this evening comes as he threatens to take military action against Iran without authorization from Congress.

The president has ordered the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Two aircraft carriers and 14 surface warships are deployed to the region.

The State of the Union offers an opportunity for Trump to tell the American people why he is considering strikes and lay out what the goals of a military operation would be.

It’s unclear whether Trump wants to overthrow the Islamic Republic or has more limited aims.

He has left open the possibility of a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. U.S. and Iranian diplomats are scheduled to meet in Geneva Thursday for more talks.

Trump said last week he is considering a limited strike against Iran to pressure the regime to make more concessions in negotiations. But he previously threatened an attack “far worse” than the U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities last June.

—Spencer Kimball

Congressional Republicans said Trump should lean on his foreign policy in the State of the Union and focus on affordability, a buzzword for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms.

“We’re putting more money back in your pockets, we’re restoring peace through strength, we’re defending our border and deporting criminal illegal aliens, we’re standing up for American industry and manufacturing and we’re making American workers – not foreign countries – the clear winners in this American economy,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a press conference Tuesday before the speech.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the president should tout the sprawling tax and spending package — known as the One Big Beautiful Bill — that was signed into law last year that Republicans say will result in tax cuts for American families. 

And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also on “Squawk Box,” said Trump should highlight his work to reduce border crossings, crime and drug overdoses, as well as the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and military pressure placed on Iran.

“Tonight I expect the president to talk about historic successes over this last year, because it really has been an extraordinary year, both in national security and foreign policy, but also in domestic policy,” Cruz said.

—Justin Papp