What to know about Trump’s speech to Congress

President Trump will give an address to a joint session of Congress tonight in Washington, his first major speech since returning to the White House in January. It’s an opportunity for Trump to lay out his agenda and talk about key policy objectives.

Here’s what to know and how to watch the address.

What time is Trump’s address to Congress?

Trump’s address will begin at 9pm ET on 4 March in Washington DC. He will deliver remarks from the chamber of the US House of Representatives.

How to watch on TV in the US?

Major news networks are likely to broadcast the address live. PBS will carry a livestream on its YouTube page.

• The Guardian will have a live feed of the address and a team of reporters will be covering and fact-checking Trump’s speech.

What is Trump likely to talk about?

In his letter inviting Trump to speak, House speaker Mike Johnson invited the president to share his “America First vision for our legislative future”. The president is expected to 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 Elon Musk to dramatically downsize the federal work force, threatened allies with tariffs and coddled longtime American foes. His administration has initiated sweeping mass layoffs of federal employees, mobilized 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.

Is this a state of the union?

No, this is not formally a state of the union address. However, Trump, like all presidents going back to Ronald Reagan, have given an address to Congress early in their term.

Who will attend?

Johnson will preside over the joint session, alongside Vice-President JD Vance, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.

Democrats have invited several workers who were fired in Trump’s mass purge of the federal government to attend, in an attempt to embarrass Trump over the unbridled assault on the federal bureaucracy.

Chuck Schumer has invited Alissa Ellman, a disabled army veteran who served in Afghanistan and was recently fired from her job at the Veterans Affairs department in Buffalo.

The invitations have been extended by some Democrats in lieu of boycotting the event, as some prominent lawmakers are doing.

Who is giving the Democrats’ response?

The newly-elected Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin will give the Democratic party’s rebuttal to Trump’s address on Tuesday. It’s a high-profile platform for the 48-year-old former CIA analysts, who won a competitive Senate seat in November.

Top Democrat Schumer said she will “offer a bold vision of hope, unity, and a brighter future for everyone, not just the wealthy few at the top”.

In a social media post, Slotkin said she is “looking forward to speaking directly to the American people next week”.

“The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country. From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that actually improves people’s lives in the country we all love, and I’m looking forward to laying that out,” Slotkin said.

The rebuttal is an often thankless task, as Katie Britt, Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio, deliverers of previously panned speeches, would attest.