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President Trump's Address to Congress & the Democratic Response

Tonight, around 8 pm, President Trump will address a joint session of Congress for the first time. The address comes one day after Trump gave an outline of his budget plan to Congress. That plan includes increases in defense spending and cuts to domestic programs.

Shortly after the president concludes, former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear will deliver the Democratic response. Additionally, immigrant activist Astrid Silva will provide a Spanish language response.

NPR's Politics team will be annotating both Trump and Beshear's remarks starting at 8 pm. You can view both annotations below.

President Trumps Remarks:

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Democratic Response:

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Michael Leland is IPR's News Director, with expertise in organization, planning, listening, advocacy, editing, reporting, hosting and photography, all to help Iowans better understand their communities and the state. He's led teams of reporters across Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and has covered issues in places as varied as Chicago and northern Canada for IPR, NPR and other media organizations. Leland is a graduate of Kansas State University.
Katherine Perkins is IPR's Executive Producer of Talk Shows and Program Director for News & Talk. Since 2014, Perkins has managed the broadcast schedule and sound of the news and information service of Iowa Public Radio, as well as has directed the long-term planning and oversight for IPR's talk shows, Talk of Iowa and River to River. Perkins has a master's degree from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois – Springfield).

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