sentence. per tradition, there will be a democratic response. gretchen witmer will be responding to the president's speech. she will have a live audience. the spanish-language response will be delivered by veronica escobar. 202 is the area code. 748-8920 for democrats. republicans, and others, 748-8922. the state of the union is. your job is to finish that sentence. women inthe democratic the house will be wearing white. you can see the picture. wear white to celebrate the anniversary of the 19th amendment. they will attend the state of the union. marsha blackburn tweeted out we are just a few hours away from the state of the union. looking forward to having navy seal david goggins join me. tennessee is lucky to have such a strong military community. leonard inall is smithville, tennessee. the state of the union is what? where the president can lay out his measures for the future and keep america great again. i think he has been the best president of the u.s. ever had. >> why do you say that? >> he has accomplished more. he has done more than he promised to do. weren't withats him, we need to build a wall, which is making go slow. had the tax cut. i can't go through everything he has done off of the top of my head, but the economy, the job and allor the hispanics of the different minorities. i think he's done a great job. >> jamie from pine mountain georgia. the state of the union is? >> great. unemployment is down, life is good. >> thank you for calling in. this is jake, a high school student from spokane, my guest to this year's state of the union address. like millions of washingtonians, he has a pre-existing condition living with type one diabetes. he relies on insulin that can be very expensive without insurance. through this evening, you will see a lot of democrats have tweeted out about health care. you might see a theme developing. john from deep river, connecticut. finish that sentence. as an independent democrat and voted republican. trump is doing the best for this country that i have ever seen before. i have never seen a president actually do what he said he was going to do. >> if you had to finish the sentence, the state of the union is? union about of the what's going on in our country. is the president trump best for this country. scott, republican florida senator, honored to have nathan join me at the state of the union. nathan is an inspiration in the fight for freedom and democracy, and has sent a powerful message to communist china that the people of hong kong won't be silenced. the u.s. stands with those fighting for freedom. there are some democratic members of the house boycotting tonight speech, including al green of texas, alexandria, of cortez, ayanna pressley, maxine waters, steve cohen of tennessee. johnson ofgon, hank georgia, and frederica wilson of florida have announced they are boycotting the speech. robbins in pennsylvania. how do you finish that sentence? to thankd like president trump for doing a great job. everybody acts like it is so easy to run the country, but he came into a lot of problems. i believe republicans and democrats need to work together. i don't believe these people boycotting. what gives them the right when the taxpaying people pay the people to do a job? who are they to not show up? that is an embarrassment to the country. the way they are all fighting like little kids is also an embarrassment to the country. traditionally, any president meets with television anchors prior to the state of the union at an off the record luncheon at the white house. this year, the president had several television anchors, including lester holt of nbc at the white house for an off the record lunch. it leaked, washington post reported on it. here's what they write. in a two hour off the record luncheon, trump said he plans to award rush limbaugh a presidential medal of freedom and spoke at length about his power, saying he only learned monday limbaugh was sick and he had seen him several weeks ago. trump told the anchors ahead of the speech he had wanted the radio host to attend the state of the union. wasral said the president in a good mood and predicted a speech of about one hour and 25 minutes without applause, and he said he would participate in the general election debates in the fall after weeks of indecision within his campaign and complaints from the president himself. next call is from robert in atlanta. finish that sentence. absolutely talked down by the democrats. ever since this president was elected. i have done the research myself, i'm a libertarian. numbers, yout the cannot dismiss what this man has done for this country. is ant love him, but honest observation. i wish republicans could do that, instead of trying to paint a picture that the u.s. is in such dire straits, even bloomberg saying the president can't even keep his word. the most ancient -- disingenuous statement of a presidential candidate in commercial media. it is flat-out wrong. >> thank you. congresswoman ayana pressley the state of the union is hurting because of the occupant of the white house who consistently demonstrates contempt for the american people, congress, and our constitution. i cannot in good conscience attend tonight's sham. the president is having special guests in the presidential box with misses trump. this began under ronald reagan. tony rankin's is one of them. he served in afghanistan, had ptsd, ended up homeless, and is now working in an enterprise zone. raul ortiz with the u.s. border patrol. jodi jones of farmersville, california. her brother was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant. alien robert snyder are from kansas city. they have health issues. they will be in the box with jenny a and stephanie davis. her motherader, stephanie davis is a proponent of school choice. gage are from stillwater oklahoma. her husband was killed in afghanistan. they are being honored by the president along with paul morrow of montgomery, alabama. he is now working in an opportunity zone in alabama, where he is open to concrete plans. finally, the former chief of police in venezuela capital city who had been arrested by the tovez regime and escaped fort lauderdale. most people will be sitting in the president's box. he will probably refer to them throughout his speech. slidell, louisiana. how do you describe the state of the union? >> i describe the state of the union to be precarious. >> why? >> i think that due to how unstable our president is, we are no longer trusted by our allies. economy is notr good as people think it is, even though the job ratings are great. we have a trillion dollar deficit. if this president gets elected again, he will cut medicare, medicaid, and social whority to pay corporations are not paying taxes at this point. it scares me. >> osmond is in delaware. are you with us? go ahead. we are going to move on to ron in tampa, florida. turn down your volume and don't speak on the speakerphone. it makes it a little difficult to hear. sentence, finish that the state of the union is? >> i think the state of the union is in very good shape. representatives from the democratic party not attending tonight is really pathetic. when november comes, it won't have a job working for our government, so that will be fine. >> another tweet from a member of congress, representative vicky hartzler. we await the senate state of the union. here is what missouri has achieved under donald trump. 3.3% unemployment rate, 56,000 new jobs, 30,000 people lifted out of poverty, wages up 4%, median household income up 8%, business applications in made,ri up 11%, promises promises capped." next call is ryan in clark summit pennsylvania. you were on c-span. finish that sentence. >> the state of the union is very bizarre. in investment people make national politics doesn't seem to be proportionate to the way it affects their life. for me personally, i believe andle who will go out attend city council meetings and vote on something as trivial as a street sweeping ordinance would be a step in the right direction, but it is just a very bizarre situation. >> thank you. speaker pelosi has several guests sitting in her box this evening. nadine burke is the surgeon general of california. -- jonahnd his mother cohen and his mother are there. cheyenne faulkner and morgan , juvenile diabetes patients. she depends on oxygen and a ventilator. they will all be in nancy pelosi's box this evening. marty from minnesota. would like to take the opportunity to say i spent 30 years in the united states navy, retired as a lieutenant there was a time under the obama administration we couldn't even buy fuel to fly our jets. we didn't have the money to put to sea. >> finish the statement, the state of the union is? >> the greatest ever under the leadership of donald trump. harris, "i'm bringing --,r joseph paul comeau dedicated his life to helping formerly incarcerated individuals reenter their communities. as our nation works to reform our criminal justice system, it is stories like his that must be heard? -- that must be heard." where are you calling from? we don't have anyone on the line. 0 ifminder, (202)-740-892 others,ocrat, and all 748-8922. thisnt you to finish sentence, the state of the union is? a reminder that we will ask you for your city and state, as well. jean from raleigh north carolina, >> the state of the economy is the best since the reagan era, in terms of the economy, farmers, trade, jobs, employment for all americans, our military strength and respect internationally, our current border patrol and containment of illegal aliens, veteran benefit improvements, the removal of ridiculously regulations and much more, and more to come. >> here is speaker pelosi's tweet from this afternoon "president trump promised to negotiate like crazy for lower prescription prices. that must mean not negotiate at all, because he has stood by set -- side-by-side with big pharma against house democrat bill to do exactly that, lower drug costs now act." as you just saw, many of her guests have health concerns and health issues that need to be addressed. back to the washington post report on the off the record luncheon the president had this afternoon. at one point, vice president pence, who attended the lunch, said indiana stepped in and helped mayor pete buttigieg with an economic grant when south bend was struggling and while pence was governor. trump expressed frustration with john bolton, who the president said turned on him. trump also mocked bolton by saying he wanted to be called ambassador, even internally at the white house, and his ambassadorship was a recent appointment. next call is joe. joe is in sylmar, california. feel themocrat, i u.s. is broke, we have no money for any kind of health plan or whatever. i believe donald trump is doing a great job. >> thank you. if you are away from your tv and want to watch the state of the union, c-span.org is the place to do that. we will be live streaming it on c-span.org. another tweet, senator tina smith, democrat of minnesota "duluth with my first stop after becoming senator from minnesota. i'm so glad larson for duluth has been my guest for the state of the union address. mayor larson takes time to listen to community members and stays focused and motivated to get things done." rick from carlsbad, new mexico. you are on c-span. finish that statement. the state of the union is? >> the state of the union is the envy of the world. we have never been at this point in our history, going back decades. the world looks in our position under this president. >> senator jacky rosen, democrat , nevada "when he was ambushed during the vietnam war, gil hernandez was wounded and pronounced dead three times. he's a true hero, purple heart recipient, and dedicated his life to improving veterans lives area i'm honored he's my state of the union address." the president and misses trump are due to leave the white house at about 8:30 this evening, in about 10 minutes. you can see the outside. we will cover it live. as soon as the lights go up in the house chamber, we will be going live. following the president's speech and the democratic response, we will get reaction from statuary hall. statuary hall is the old house of representatives up until 1857. that's where the media sets up. you can see the scrum. c-span will have cameras and will be talking to members of congress. that will all be on c-span3. priscilla from greenville, south carolina. >> i just want to say the state of the union is divided, which is very sad. i think the republicans and president trump have been working to extend the olive branch, but the sad thing is you can't really heal if the democrats keep pushing that away. it is pretty obvious they don't want to participate in healing our country. ableust hoping we will be to overcome that. thank you. >> jacky, bridgeport, connecticut. finish that statement. union is in of the good shape for the rich, but a terrible state for the poor. people the most homeless , the most children going to bed hungry. our elderly people are on the street. they need care. did a big tax cut for the wealthy of the wealthiest. he gave a lot of money to the away $12 fromok elderly people. to get vegetables, to eat healthy. then we say everything is ok. it is not ok. .t is ok for the rich in the cities and states of america, and see america. america is not just in congress. >> the president says his speech will be about an hour and a half this evening, and it does not include the applause throughout. the firsthington gave so-called state of the union, a national address at the time. he did it in person. it was about 1099 words. after that, the presidents started sending down their annual addresses to the congress, did not do it in person until woodrow wilson revived the practice. dennis come along barred illinois. what do you think the state of the union is? going toent trump is put his voice heard across the world. and what he has done for the united states, the democrats cannot deny him. he is the best president we have ever had in this country. look what he has done. when resident bill clinton delivered his final state of the union address. it was february 12 of that year when he was acquitted in the senate. wherecond time in history a president is delivering the state of the union while under impeachment. >> glenn, anaheim, california. >> the state of the union is very important. republicans that have been voted into these positions behind themselves and act accordingly. they know what the people put them therefore. conductw how to behave, this properly. helping the president and always, democrats and republicans, this is only his second time, he is not a professional politician. they should have been helping guide him all the way. they should be ashamed of themselves. push,icans and democrats have a little more respect for the positions. . >> honored to have little shall try above the chippewa indians organization joining him for his state of the union address. >> ricky in vicksburg, mississippi. finish that sentence. the state of the union is? to be an independent guy, i think it is a bunch of bull -- the democrats prove their point, a blind man can see that. and republicans all for trump are sticking together. that's all i have to say. i think it will be a bunch of lies. >> what do you do down in vicksburg? >> i'm a construction worker. >> how's business? >> it is up and down, but i have been there 15 years. it hasn't changed any. jobs went up when obama was there. >> what is it about president trump that bothers you? >> he is a compulsive liar, and he has the republicans really scared of him. i will be honest with you. there on his team, whether he is right or wrong. >> thank you for calling in. gathering, they will come from the senate chamber to the house chamber. take a wild.will the president is due to speak in about 34 minutes. the lights in the house are not up yet. as soon as they are, we will go to it. let's watch the senate. [indistinct conversations] [applause] [applause] [indistinct conversations] [inaudible speech] [indistinct conversations] >> the joint session will come to order. the chair appointed members of the committee as a part of the house will escort the president of the united states into the chamber. the gentleman from maryland, the gentleman from mr. south carolina, the gentleman from new mexico, the gentleman from mr. , therk -- from new york gentlewoman from illinois, the gentlewoman from california, the gentlewoman from kansas, the gentlewoman from new mexico, the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scully's, the gentlewoman from wyoming, ms. cheney, the gentleman from minnesota, the gentleman from alabama, mr. palmer, the gentleman from north carolina, the gentleman from missouri, mr. smith, the gentleman from texas, -- thedy, from oklahom gentleman from oklahoma. >> the president of the senate appoints the following senators onmembers of the committee the part of the senate to escort the president of the united states. the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, the senator from south dakota, the senator from iowa, mr. grassley, the senator from wyoming, the senator from iowa, miss ernst, the senator from missouri, mr. bluhm, the senator from indiana, mr. young, the senator from new york, mr. schumer, the senator from illinois, mr. durbin, the senator from wisconsin, the senator from maryland, the hampshire, andw the senator from delaware. >> thank you mr. vice president. the members of the committees will exit the chamber through the lobby's doors. [indistinct conversations] >> madam speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. [applause] [applause] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] >> madam speaker, the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [applause] [cheers and applause] >> madam speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause] [indistinct chatter]

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