When President Joe Biden returns to the House chamber to deliver his third State of the Union address, the former longtime senator will address his onetime congressional colleagues as a guest.
The president is invited to address Congress by the House speaker, in accordance with his constitutional duty to “from time to time” deliver a message outlining top issues facing Americans and plans to solve those issues. House Speaker Mike Johnson invited Biden in a letter on January 6. The address will take place this year on Thursday, March 7.
Two seats on the dais behind the president are reserved for the vice president and the House speaker. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the president of the Senate, will sit to the right behind Biden, and Johnson will be seated to his left.
Presidents and first ladies typically invite about two dozen guests to sit in the House gallery. State of the Union guests help put a human face to a president’s message for both policymakers and viewers at home.
The president’s Cabinet, Supreme Court justices who choose to attend, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former members of Congress and members of the diplomatic corps are seated in front of lawmakers.
House members aren’t assigned seats. Instead, seats in the chamber are doled out on a first come, first served basis the day of the speech. House members must stay seated in the spot they choose until the address begins, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.
Senators join their House colleagues in the chamber, sitting at the front, the report from the Congressional Research Service states.
The 535 members of Congress are each granted one guest ticket. The Sergeant at Arms handles seating for the guests, who fill up the remainder of the…
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