Joe Biden Accepts Kevin McCarthy’s Invitation for State of the Union Address on February 7

President Joe Biden accepted an invitation Friday from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to deliver his annual State of the Union address, according to the White House.

“We have received Speaker McCarthy’s kind invitation, and the president has accepted it,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily press briefing.

The date for the address is scheduled for February 7.

McCarthy shared an image of his letter to the president inviting him to fulfill his constitutional duty to report to Congress for the State of the Union.

“The American people sent us to Washington to deliver a new direction for the country, to find common ground, and to debate their priorities,” he wrote:

It is my solemn obligation to invite the president to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on February 7th so that he may fulfill his duty under the Constitution to report on the state of the union. pic.twitter.com/YBmzLxs3Iz

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 13, 2023

The cordial process for setting the date has been completed even as Republicans face a heated debate about raising the debt limit in the next few weeks.

The White House signaled they would not negotiate any spending cuts or any additional concessions with House Republicans.

“This should be done without conditions,” Jean-Pierre said. “There’s going to be no negotiation over it. This is something that must get done.”

She also urged Republicans and Democrats to work together in a spirit of bipartisanship to raise the debt limit.

“We believe when it comes to the debt limit, it has been done in a bipartisan way over the years and decades. And it should be done in a bipartisan way. And it should be done without conditions,” she said.