WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump delivers his first official State of the Union address on Tuesday night, but he still has unfinished business from his speech to Congress last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that event (a \u201cjoint address to Congress,\u201d not officially a State of the Union speech), Trump vowed to send lawmakers \u201ca budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.\u201d He did send over that request, but nearly four months into the new fiscal year, Congress has yet to approve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The House is working to take up a new vote on a stand-alone defense appropriations measure this week, one that would provide more money that even Trump requested for the military. But the plan still faces a difficult path in the Senate, where Democrats hold enough power to filibuster the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of the speech this week is expected to focus on economic issues, given the tax reform measure passed by Congress at the end of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the State of the Union speech also regularly features some discussion on national security and foreign policy, and is likely to include discussion of U.S. troops\u2019 work in the Middle East, a frequent talking point of Trump in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTuesday, Jan. 30 <\/strong> Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of Jan. 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,15,68,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3294],"class_list":["post-22143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RU2PIVBTHBCINOABY4ZD7OYRRA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/01\/26\/this-week-in-congress-trumps-first-state-of-the-union-address\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n
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\nSenate Armed Services \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Hart 216
\nPacific strategy<\/i>
\nOutside experts will testify before the committee on instability on the Korean Peninsula and broader U.S. strategy region.
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\nHouse Armed Services \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Rayburn 2118
\nMilitary readiness<\/i>
\nOutside experts will testify before the committee on the U.S. military\u2019s preparation for future warfare threats.
\n
\nHouse Veterans’ Affairs \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Cannon 334
\nAppeals Reform<\/i>
\nVA officials will testify before the committee on appeals reform implementation.
\n
\nHouse Transportation \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Rayburn 2167
\nCoast Guard health records<\/i>
\nThe subcommittee on Coast Guard will hear from service officials about progress with modernization of service medical record systems.
\n
\nHouse Small Business \u2014 11 a.m. \u2014 Rayburn 2360
\nCyber Threats<\/i>
\nCommittee members will hear from FBI officials on the threat posed by foreign cyber attacks and possible ways to counter them.
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\nSenate Foreign Relations \u2014 2:30 p.m. \u2014 Dirksen 419
\nNorth America<\/i>
\nFormer Canadian Prime Minster Brian Mulroney will testify before the committee on the economic relationship between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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