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Watch Live: Biden To Pitch Sweeping ‘Family Plan’ In Speech To Congress

An illustration of President Joe Biden in a blue suit and orange-red tie.
NPR

Marking his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to pitch a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform the role government plays in American life.

Watch the address live in the module below.

Biden will make his case Wednesday night before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators due to coronavirus restrictions and in a U.S. Capitol still surrounded by black fencing after insurrectionists protesting his election occupied the very dais where he will stand.

NPR will offer live fact-checking of the president's speech below.

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In the nationally televised ritual of a president standing before Congress, Biden will lay out a sweeping proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas reflect the frailties that were uncovered last year by the pandemic, and he will make the case that economic growth would best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.

His speech will also provide an update on progress in combating the COVID-19 crisis he was elected to tame, showcasing hundreds of millions of vaccinations and relief checks delivered to help offset the devastation wrought by a virus that has killed more than 573,000 people in the United States. He will also champion his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, a staggering figure to be financed solely by higher taxes on corporations.

Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, will deliver the Republican response.

Watch NPR's live fact-checking of the Republican response below.

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Scott has been central to negotiations in Congress around policing legislation and unveiled a plan last year that would reduce, though not ban, the use of chokeholds.

Associated Press