President Donald Trump will seek to sell his political agenda — including tax reform, Obamacare repeal and a military buildup — to Americans outside the capital following his first joint address to Congress Tuesday night.
The President is set to deliver a speech Thursday aboard a soon-to-be commissioned aircraft carrier at the shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, according to White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, just two days after he asks Congress to inject as much as $84 billion into the US defense in the next two years. He will also participate in a roundtable with shipbuilders and servicemembers at the shipyard where the Navy’s aircraft carriers and many of its ships and submarines are built.
Trump is then slated to fly to Orlando, Florida, on Friday, where he will attend a listening session on school choice at St. Andrews Catholic School, Sanders told reporters.
Trump is expected to make his case for investing in a military buildup during his Thursday appearance, with a particular emphasis on the need to improve the US Navy. His plans are in line with his campaign rhetoric, which called for ending the sequester on defense spending and increasing the number of ships, submarines and aircraft in the US military.
Now, Trump’s calls will run into the fiscal and political realities of Washington, where Democrats are wary of the $54 billion in cuts to domestic programs Trump has proposed to offset the investment in defense spending for the 2018 budget. Republicans, too, are wary of budget proposals that will not aim to bring down the federal deficit and national debt.
Trump’s visit to the Newport News Shipbuilding, the largest industrial employer in Virginia, will serve as a reminder to members of Congress of the potential economic boon that a defense buildup could herald.
Trump’s visit to Orlando on Friday, which would be his second in as many weeks, will also be an opportunity for Trump to drive home his calls for education reform, which he is also slated to address Tuesday night.
The President’s post-congressional address travel mirrors how past presidents have sought to drum up support for their legislative agenda and policy proposals after delivering a joint address to Congress or State of the Union address.