Updated March 04, 2025 at 22:20 PM ET
NPR is bringing you the latest from President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress. For more updates, get our NPR Politics newsletter or listen to The NPR Politics Podcast.
President Trump started off his joint address to Congress on Tuesday by touting his election win and declaring "America is back."
"America's momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Confidence is back," Trump declared to applause from the Republican side of the hall, and silence from Democrats.
Shortly after beginning his speech, Trump was interrupted by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who stood and shouted that Trump didn't have a mandate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ordered Green escorted from the House chamber. After Green's exit, Trump continued his remarks, railing against Democratic lawmakers who he said wouldn't be happy with anything he did.
The president then outlined a laundry list of actions from his first six weeks in office, including ending foreign aid, banning trans athletes from participating in school sports and establishing the Department of Government Efficiency — an initiative to slash the size of the federal government that Trump has tapped billionaire Elon Musk to lead. Musk attended the speech in person, and was thanked personally by the president.
Trump said that DOGE has found evidence of "hundreds of billions" of dollars of fraud, though the administration has not provided a full accounting of those numbers.
Trump said he was working to make prices more affordable for Americans, and blamed former President Biden for things like the high price of eggs; the recent spike in costs is due to the bird flu. He said he would also bring down prices by lowering energy costs through investments in a natural gas pipeline in Alaska, and expanding the production of rare earth minerals.
On cutting government spending, Trump said, "We're going to find out where that money is going and it's not going to be pretty but slashing all of the fraud, waste and theft we can find will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families."
Other Democratic members of Congress continued to protest Trump during his remarks, with many holding up black placards that had phrases like "Save Medicaid" and "Musk Steals." A few members protested by walking out in the middle of the speech.
The president's speech comes as tensions have escalated with the United States' three largest trading partners. On Tuesday, the U.S. initiated new tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico, which resulted in retaliatory tariffs. The budding trade war is expected to raise costs for consumers, and it sent markets plummeting on Tuesday.
Trump has also said that he would talk about a potential agreement on critical minerals with Ukraine in his speech.
Earlier Tuesday, after Trump announced a pause on military aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X that Ukraine is ready to sign the deal.
"We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively," Zelenskyy said.
The agreement, if finalized, would follow last week's blowout meeting between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office. The meeting ended with Zelenskyy leaving the White House earlier than planned.
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