The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

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Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:25 PM

President Trump To Make Case For Economic Growth In 2017 At First Official State Of The Union Address

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to move past the shadow of the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump intends to use his first State of the Union address to cite economic progress under his watch while pushing for bipartisanship with Democrats on issues such as rebuilding roads and bridges.

The White House said Sunday that the president would point to a robust economy and low unemployment during his first year and the benefits of a tax overhaul during Tuesday's address to Congress and the nation. Aides have said Trump, who stayed at the White House over the weekend as he prepared, is expected to set aside his more combative tone for one of compromise and bipartisanship.

"The president is going to talk about how America's back," said White House legislative director Marc Short. "The president is also going to make an appeal to Democrats ... to say we need to rebuild our country. And to make an appeal that to do infrastructure, we need to do it in a bipartisan way."

Short said Trump would urge Democrats to support additional military spending in light of "dramatic threats on the global scene."

White House officials have said the theme of the annual address will be "building a safe, strong and proud America" and that Trump was looking to showcase the accomplishments of his first year while setting the tone for the second.

As Trump looks ahead, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible obstruction of justice and Trump campaign ties to Russian meddling in the 2016 election grinds on.

It often has distracted from the president's message. For example, Trump's address to financial and global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, last week followed reports that he ordered a top White House lawyer to fire Mueller last June but backed off when the lawyer threatened to resign. Trump called the report "fake news."

On the policy front, immigration is an immediate flashpoint for Trump and Congress. In the prime-time speech Tuesday, the president plans to promote his proposal for $25 billion for a wall along the Mexican border and for a path to citizenship for nearly 2 million young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Trump's plan includes billions for border security and significant changes to legal immigration long sought by hard-liners within the Republican Party. But some conservatives have warned that the deal would amount to "amnesty" for the young immigrants known as Dreamers, and many Democrats and immigration activists have outright rejected it.

"I think all of us realize that it's going to take a compromise on this issue for us to get something done and to protect the Dreamer population, which is certainly a goal of mine," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "But I think the president is also right about border security, that we do need to beef up our border security."

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called Trump's proposal "a good starting point."

"Let's see if it's something that we can agree on, something we need to adjust, something we can negotiate with," he said.

Part of Trump's goal in the speech is to set the course of the debate as Republicans look to retain their majority in Congress. He is expected to say the tax overhaul will unleash economic growth and he will point to companies that have provided their employees with $1,000 bonuses and other benefits.

Trump plans to outline a nearly $2 trillion plan that his administration contends will trigger $1 trillion or more in public and private spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects.