Trump to defend major changes, policy shifts in first Congress address

Trump to tout cuts to federal bureaucracy, border control efforts, and tariffs as leverage in Congress speech

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President Donald Trump addresses Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into a tumultuous term defined by his efforts to stretch the limits of the presidency, slash the federal bureaucracy, impose steep tariffs on allies and pause all US military support for Ukraine.

The speech - similar to a State of the Union address but not called that because Trump was only inaugurated in January - is set to take place inside the US House of Representatives at 9:10 p.m. ET (0210 GMT on Wednesday).

The event promises to have a raucous element with Republican lawmakers cheering on Trump and Democrats expressing their opposition to what he lists as his achievements.

While Democrats are not planning a broad boycott of the speech, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut was among those who said he would not attend, calling the address "a farce."

It takes place in the same chamber where lawmakers huddled in fear for their lives four years earlier while a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory over the then-incumbent Trump.

Trump is expected to use his speech to laud his rapid-fire efforts to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy, reduce the flow of migrants over the US -Mexico border, and his use of tariffs to force foreign nations to bow to his demands.

Trump was due to speak less than 24 hours after a fresh round of punishing tariffs take effect against Canada and Mexico, sparking fears of an escalating trade war and unnerving financial markets.

The emboldened president will be closely watched by rattled European allies, just a day after the White House said it was pausing all military aid to Ukraine following an explosive encounter in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Asked on Monday if plans to sign a rare minerals deal with Ukraine were dead, Trump said, "Well, I'll let you know tomorrow night" in reference to his speech. "But no, I don't think so. It's a great deal for us."

On the domestic front, Trump is likely to use the speech to make a case for extending his 2017 tax cuts. Congressional Republicans have advanced a sweeping $4.5 trillion plan to do just that, as well as addressing Trump’s other priorities by tightening border security and funding a huge increase in deportations.

The proposal calls for $2 trillion in spending reductions over a decade, with possible cuts to education, healthcare and other social services.

Trump has issued a blizzard of executive orders since taking office on January 20 as he attempts to set new rules on everything from trade and immigration to plastic straws and the official language of the United States.

At the same time, allies in the Justice Department have fired or sidelined top officials who helped to prosecute Trump supporters who took part in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Trump has also fired agency inspectors-general and taken other steps to remove oversight over the operations of his government.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday that Trump would ask Congress for more money to secure the US border, but did not offer any further details.

She said the length of the speech could stretch past one hour.

First lady Melania Trump will be joined at the address by a number of selected guests as is customary. These include the family of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed by the gunman who also grazed Trump with a bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.

Others include Marc Fogel, a history teacher freed from detention in Russia in February.

Upending government

Trump spent part of the weekend at his Florida home crafting the speech with advisers, including ally and billionaire Elon Musk, according to an aide with knowledge of Trump's schedule.

Musk will attend the Tuesday night speech, a White House official said.

Trump has upended the federal government since taking office, working with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to jettison more than 100,000 federal workers across dozens of agencies.

The downsizing campaign has terminated billions of dollars in foreign aid, including lifesaving medicine and food, while effectively shuttering congressionally approved agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the US Agency for International Development.

Advocacy groups and Democratic state attorneys general have filed dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of Musk’s actions, with at least some judges ordering the administration to pause or slow its efforts.

But Republicans in Congress have dismissed concerns the president is usurping the legislature’s “power of the purse” - its constitutional authority over how, and whether, federal funds should be spent.

Democrats plan to underscore the harm they say Trump’s policies have on everyday Americans by inviting civil servants hit by DOGE firings or funding freezes to Tuesday's speech.

Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA agent, will deliver the Democratic Party's rebuttal.

Slotkin, a moderate seen as a rising star in her party, won her seat in November by campaigning on economic issues like lowering healthcare costs and boosting American manufacturing, even as Trump carried her battleground state.