WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Joe Biden is deep in the planning of Thursday’s State of the Union address.
The president returned to the White House Tuesday after a full weekend of prep at Camp David.
“You’ll hear me on Thursday,” President Biden said when asked about the contents of his speech.
While the president is keeping the details close to the chest, White House officials teased a number of new economic actions Tuesday he plans to announce.
“You’ll hear him really call on congressional Republicans to join him,” said Daniel Hornung with the National Economic Council.
Hornung said President Biden’s tax proposals would reward work, not wealth.
“To make sure that we don’t have a tax system where some billionaires are actually paying a lower average tax rate than firefighters and teachers,” he said.
Hornung said the president will also take new steps on housing to increase the supply and lower closing costs.
“That’s a big issue as interest rates have gone up,” he said.
The White House said President Biden will also announce more efforts to ban junk fees, the surprise charges that often pop up for tickets, hotels, even internet and cable bundles.
“We’ve all been seeing these creep across the economy and our lives almost everywhere we go,” said Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
But Republicans, like U.S. Rep. John Rose, (R-Tenn.), said voters are less concerned about junk fees than rampant crime.
“In major cities across this country, organized retail theft has claimed more than $100 billion in property,” Rose said.
Crime and the economy, along with the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, will likely be part of the Republican rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union address.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, (R-Ala.), will give the Republican rebuttal.