Biden to deliver 1st State of the Union address in March
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Joe Biden to deliver the State of the Union address -- the first of Biden's presidency -- on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
"Thank you for your bold vision and patriotic leadership which have guided America out of crisis and into an era of great progress, as we not only recover from the pandemic but Build Back Better!" Pelosi wrote in a letter on Friday inviting Biden to speak in the House chamber.
"In that spirit, I am writing to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1, to share your vision of the State of the Union," she wrote.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed later Friday that Biden has accepted Pelosi's invitation.
Biden addressed his first joint session of Congress last April -- one day shy of his 100th day in office -- but that was not considered a State of the Union address as he was just entering office.
Former President Donald Trump delivered the nation's last State of the Union on Feb. 4, 2020. As he finished, Pelosi ripped up a copy of Trump's remarks while standing behind him in the House chamber.
Pelosi told critics at the time that she hadn't intended to rip up Trump's speech but that she "realized that almost every page had something in it that was objectionable."
State of the Union addresses allow for presidents to tout the progress of the past year and lay out their priorities for the future of the nation.
While Biden will surely address the successful passage of the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats have fallen short on other legislative priorities set when Biden took office including reforms to voting, policing and so-called "human infrastructure."
Much of Biden's joint address to Congress last year focused on priorities like gun control and immigration, education and child care plans -- along with his enormous infrastructure agenda of which he's, only in part, achieved.
Some of the "once in a generation" investments in families and children, Biden called for, including universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as two years of free community college and a federal paid leave program -- have not been established with Democrats holding only a razor-thin majority in Congress. Just last month, the administration's expanded child tax credit program expired.
The president's invite to address Congress comes amid renewed discussion over filibuster reforms in the Senate as legislation in the Democratic-controlled House remains stalled in the upper chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made clear his belief that a change to the Senate filibuster rules is necessary if Republicans continue to block voting reform.
With Thursday's anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol renewing Democrats' push for voting rights legislation, Schumer delivered his firmest statement of support of a rules change this week, writing to colleagues the Senate will debate and vote on a rules change on or before Jan. 17 if there's continued filibustering on voting legislation.
Biden is no stranger to presidential addresses in Congress after 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president -- but on March 1, he will finally get to deliver a State of the Union of his own.
March 1 is also expected to mark the first time in history that two women, Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris, will sit behind a president during a State of the Union address.
ABC News' Mariam Khan, Ben Gittleson and Allie Pecorin contributed to this report.
