GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: President  Biden prepares to speak to Congress  

and the American people in his  annual State of the Union address.

AMNA NAWAZ: A cyberattack on the  nation's biggest medical payment  

processing company cripples much of  the United States' health care system.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the U.K. government  proposes new legislation to punish those  

responsible for the rising tensions  triggered by the war in Gaza.

JONATHAN HALL K.C., Independent Reviewer  of Terrorism Legislation: I haven't seen  

such open hostility towards categories  of individuals as I have since the 7th  

of October, that willingness, almost a  brazenness, to go out on the streets.

(BREAK)

AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Tonight, President Biden will  address Congress and millions  

of Americans in his third State of the  Union and the last of his current term.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's a high-stakes moment  for the president as he continues his  

2024 reelection campaign. And the  speech will give him the chance to  

reach voters and convince them to give  him a second term in the White House.

Joining us to explain what we  can expect are the "NewsHour"'s  

Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez.

So, Lisa -- or, rather,  Laura, we will start with you.

What new proposals and announcements can  we expect from the president tonight?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks, Geoff.

President Biden is expected to  announce that the U.S. military  

is going to establish an emergency port  on the coast of Gaza. And we don't know  

exactly the location of where that port  will be, but we do know that that port  

will enable the delivery of truckloads  via ship, truckloads of crucial aid.

That includes food, water, medicine,  

temporary shelters. And this announcement  comes after the third airdrop in recent  

days of aid. And it means that also no U.S.  military will be required to deploy to Gaza.

In addition to that, Geoff, there are also  a number of key domestic proposals that the  

president will be announcing, including raising  the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, offering  

first-time homebuyers a $5,000 tax credit, capping  out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for all  

Americans, not just those on Medicare, and urging  Congress to pass the bipartisan border deal.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, how are people in  the White House and in the Biden campaign really  

viewing this speech as a chance for the president  to reconnect with the key parts of his coalition,  

the winning coalition that delivered  him the White House back in 2020?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: People inside  the White House tell me, Geoff,  

that they really view this speech as  what they call the starting gun of 2024.

And it's a chance for the president to  lay out his vision to the biggest audience  

that he is likely to have this entire  year. This is a type of audience that  

he won't typically get if he's just giving  a campaign speech. And then a source close  

to the president told me that, when the  president prepares for speeches like this,  

he spends a lot of time by himself trying  to think about what he wants to say.

He takes input, but he is also -- he tends to shut  everything out. And we saw him really take a lot  

of time this weekend at Camp David in preparation  for this speech. And we have an excerpt of what  

he is preparing to say that the White House  provided to U.S. based on his prepared remarks.

He's expected to say: "My lifetime has taught  me to embrace freedom and democracy. Now,  

some other people my age see a different  story, an American story of resentment,  

revenge and retribution. That's not me."

That defense of democracy, Geoff, at home  and abroad is going to be one of the three  

main themes of the president's speech.  He's going to remind people about January  

6. He's going to remind people about  the COVID pandemic that he inherited.  

And he's also -- the other two pillars  are a defense of individual freedoms,  

like abortion, IVF access, and then  finally building upon his economic vision.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, so, Lisa, over to you.

If this speech is the starting  gun of 2024, to use that phrase,  

how are Republicans planning to respond?

LISA DESJARDINS: That is something  we have rare bipartisan agreement on,  

that this is essentially the opening  of the 2024 presidential season.

Republicans' response will come from one of  their most junior members of the U.S. Senate,  

42-year-old Katie Britt of Alabama. Now,  speaking to her office, they believe that  

one thing that Britt brings to the table  tonight is the fact she's a working mom.

They told me that her theme will  be the idea that Republicans,  

that their party is the party of families  and children. They will push that forward.  

And another thing that Katie Britt  plans to do, she says she sees her  

speech as the closing prosecution of the  case that Joe Biden failed as president.

It seems to me she's not going to talk so  much about Donald Trump, but instead her job,  

which is a classic job for the response, will  be to take on Joe Biden's policy, specifically  

kitchen table issues they want to talk about,  inflation, prices, those kinds of things.

But immigration certainly will come up  as well. This will be a big test for her,  

but her office says that she's a meticulous  prepper and that they're not fazed,  

even though they know it's an awkward format.

One other thing we're watching for from  Republicans tonight, though, Geoff, is,  

will there be outbursts in the chamber? House  Speaker Mike Johnson has asked his Republicans  

not to have outbursts. However, as we well know,  he does not govern their individual decisions.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, the president is the primary  focus tonight, but we should also say that members  

of Congress each get one ticket to give out  to a guest who can join inside the chamber.

I know you have reached out to nearly  every House office. What do these  

guests tell us about the members  of Congress and their priorities?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right. In this time where national politics just  seems so stratified, we now see kind of  

decentralized politics, and local politics  matter more than ever. These members have  

a lot at stake tonight in the messages  that they convey to their constituents.

So I saw some trends overall, a lot of  guests having to do with health care, on  

the Republican side, some having to do with crime  and veterans issues. But we found three guests  

that we thought were interesting, that we wanted  to highlight their stories who are here tonight.

One is an IVF doctor, another someone who has  received some rare disease treatment. But,  

first, as I -- as you listen to these members who  are here tonight from all of the United States,  

I want to bring the voice of a woman who  was there on the -- at the Selma march,  

Bloody Sunday. She was 9 years old.

That anniversary is tonight, Geoff, as you know.  And she came here to talk about voting rights.

SHEYANN WEBB-CHRISTBURG, Civil Rights Activist: It  was when I was 9 years old, when I participated as  

the youngest little girl on that Bloody Sunday  march, the most traumatic experience of my life.

And one of the things that's very critical as we  embark upon a new election is that we continue to  

really push and fight, not only to vote, but to  get others engaged, to become registered voters.

DR. PIETRO BORTOLETTO, Reproductive Endocrinologist and Director of Reproductive Surgery, Boston IVF: So earlier this week, I was actually performing IVF.

I help retrieve eggs from women who are  trying to use the technology to be able  

to build their family. I also retrieve eggs from  women who are about to undergo cancer treatment.  

People use IVF for different reasons. And I'm  here tonight to be able to advocate for them.

JENNELLE STEPHENSON, Gene Therapy Patient: I'm  visiting here today because I was fortunate to  

be a recipient of gene therapy for sickle  cell anemia. And it's been post six years  

since my transplant. And I haven't  experienced any pain or any crises  

related to it. And so I really just  want to bring attention to the topic.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, another point  of attention that you will see in the  

chamber tonight, Democratic women  have decided to wear white. They  

say that's a representation of women's  rights, especially reproductive rights.

Of course, that was the color of the suffragettes  as well. One other thing happening tonight, Geoff,  

I want to relay. TikTok has barraged  these members with phone calls today.  

Many of them shut down their phones  after this appeared on the TikTok app,  

making anyone who wants to use that app had  to call Congress or restart their phone.

And this is something that has gotten a lot of  attention. But, tonight, as a result, there was a  

backlash from Congress in committee, passed a bill  that would effectively ban TikTok. I just raised  

that because, as much as this speech -- President  Biden has so many goals that Laura's been talking  

about, many of these members are thinking  about something else that might not come up.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, in fact, we have a  report on that later in the broadcast.

That is Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez.

Our thanks to you both. And we  will see you later this evening.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, as Lisa and Laura reported, the  stakes are high, not just for President Biden,  

but for Republicans, too, in  this pivotal election year.

When John Thune of South Dakota first  won his Senate seat 20 years ago,  

he made history by defeating a party's Senate  leader for the first time in over 50 years.  

Today, he is a candidate to replace Mitch  McConnell as the Senate's top Republican.

I spoke with Senator Thune moments ago.

Senator Thune, welcome back to  the "NewsHour." How are you?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Thanks,  Amna. Good. Nice to be with you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you so much for joining us.

It's fair to say now your party  essentially has a presumptive  

nominee in former President Trump after  Super Tuesday. You have endorsed him,  

as have many others in leadership. I should  point out you were among those criticizing  

him after his second impeachment, when you  said what he did -- quote -- "to undermine  

faith in our election system and disrupt the  peaceful transfer of power is inexcusable."

So why support him today if what  he did then was inexcusable?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, look, I said what I  said then and I'm not going to relitigate it,  

but I think what we have in front  of us now is a very clear choice.

And the voters, Republican  voters around the country,  

have made clear that they want President --  former President Trump to be the Republican  

nominee. And I have said I would  support the Republican nominee,  

and I think now we have a clear choice.  It's either going to be Trump or Biden.

And my view is, we need to put an  end to the Biden-Schumer agenda,  

which consists of higher prices, broken borders,  less energy independence, and a weakened America  

on the global stage. Those are things that  a lot of us believe that we can change,  

if we can unite behind our nominee and get  a majority in the United States Senate.

And those are the types of things we're going to  

be working on because we think the stakes  are really high for the American people.

AMNA NAWAZ: It seems there are a number  of voters who still have questions,  

though. The primaries revealed specifically among  Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire,  

and South Carolina anywhere between 61 and  76 percent of Nikki Haley supporters said  

that they'd be so dissatisfied with Mr. Trump  that they would not vote for him in November.

So how does he win them over?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think it's really  important for the former president,  

now that the -- a lot of those primaries are  out of the way -- there are still some coming,  

but he clearly is winning very decisively.

He's got to reach out and build a coalition  of support that is broad enough, wide enough,  

strong enough, and deep enough to win a national  

election. He's got tremendous support,  as you know, loyalty among base voters,  

but general elections are decided  in the middle of the electorate.

And so I think it's really important that  you reach out to Nikki Haley supporters,  

to suburban voters, independent voters, people  who a lot of times are -- can swing back and  

forth in elections. He's going to have to have  them in order to win the election in November.

And a lot of us believe that he's got to  perform that way at the top of the ballot,  

and it will help our downballot races  in the Senate and the House. And we're  

trying to get a majority of  the United States Senate.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about the race  to replace Senator Mitch McConnell as leader  

when he steps down later this year.  You have thrown your hat in the ring.

On the issue of Ukraine aid  specifically, do you think,  

as leader, you would be able to convince  House Republicans to back aid to Ukraine  

in a way that Mitch McConnell has not yet so far,  especially if Mr. Trump continues to oppose it?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think that the  challenge, of course, right now,  

with the situation deteriorating there, is to  try and feel a sense of urgency about this.

I'm hoping the House can execute on getting  something passed, ideally the Senate bill,  

but if not something that they could send  to the Senate that we could then act on. I'm  

hoping that there is enough of a consensus  and a majority of Republicans in the House  

who believe that we need to defend America's  interests, we need to stand with our allies,  

that this does represent a national  security threat for our country.

America cannot retreat from the world stage.  American leadership is desperately needed now  

more than I think any time in recent history,  and we need to make sure that Ukraine has  

the weaponry and the resources that it  needs to defeat the Russians, because,  

if we're not sending them American weapons,  and they succeed in Ukraine, and they go  

into a -- roll into a NATO country, then we're  going to be sending American sons and daughters.