# Trump to lay out second-term vision in key address to Congress

## President’s first speech to joint session of Congress since reclaiming office comes after administration’s radical start

Donald Trump on Tuesday will deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress since reclaiming the presidency and promising a new “golden age” for America.

Before a chamber packed with members of Congress and their guests, the president will lay out his second-term vision after a radical start that has dramatically reshaped both domestic and foreign policy.

In just a few weeks since being sworn into office, Trump has empowered  to dramatically downsize the federal workforce, threatened allies with tariffs and coddled longtime American foes. His administration has initiated sweeping mass layoffs of federal employees,  officers from nearly every federal law enforcement agency and the US military to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations, and rattled Europe with his pursuit of a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine on terms preferential to Moscow.

New polling shows warning signs for Trump. More Americans held a negative view of Trump’s presidency so far than a positive one,  survey found. Meanwhile, a poll conducted by  showed a majority of people in the US believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and say that the president has been “rushing to make changes without considering the impact”.

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## Trump’s decision to attend the Joint Session is a personal one and we understand that members will come to different conclusions

However, it is important to have a strong, determined, and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber. The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives we will not be run off the block or bullied.

## Several Democratic lawmakers have announced that they will attend with guests who have been harmed by Trump’s policies

- Congressional Republicans have declined to put up any opposition to the stunning power grabs of the president and Musk.
- Democrats out of power in Washington have largely watched from the sidelines, rallying public support and backing legal challenges they hope will provide the checks and balances that Republicans will not.

## Chris Murphy, a senator who has emerged as one of the sharpest Democratic critics of the president, said he expected Trump’s address to be a "Maga pep rally, not a serious talk to the nation"

In a Sunday interview on CNN, Murphy said he would not attend.

"I think  is going to spew a series of lies about his alignment with Russia, about what he’s trying to do to allow Elon Musk to essentially monetize the American government to enrich Musk and his billionaire crowd," he said. "And I’m just not going to be a part of that."
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