Senator Mendez is expected to be in the chamber tonight as President Biden delivers his last State of the Union Address of his first term in office the speech will set the tone for the November presidential election a likely rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump beyond the political subtext though the Biden Administration is saddled with a number of challenges at home and abroad from the economy to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza New Jersey Congressional Delegation will be listening closely to ensure their concerns are prioritized and our new Washington DC correspondent Ben hulac will be in the chamber with them as the president delivers his speech and Ben joins me now from Capitol Hill so Ben uh good to have you with us you spoke with the members of New Jersey delegation what did they tell you about what they're listening for tonight the overriding concerns for the delegation are I would say primarily Ukraine and then second to Ukraine the status of Israel and Gaza uh Congressman gimer Norcross and um I'm I'm missing someone else but a lot of the delegation are bringing family members of of uh of Hostage victims who Hamas has kidnapped and it's still holding oras has executed during the war that is really the overarching motif for a lot of the members they're also looking for Biden to make a robust claim to a second term arguing that he's a president of continuation and of normaly and a Steady Hand of the whale I mean we can't ignore the fact that this is coming just a few days after super Tuesday it's widely considered a pretty pivotal moment uh in his campaign in the presidential election so what do we expect for his vision uh if he should get another four years in the white house he plans to build if he is reelected on what he's done legislatively and foreign policy in the first term so we're talking uh really expanding the uh in uh inflation reduction act measures um things on economic policy healthc care lowering costs for everyday Americans uh and then as I said sort of being this bull workk against us slide into potential authoritarianism that's really the overarching theme things are so divided so much more partisan than they used to be does that shift then B the president's sort of agenda setting power in a speech like this it certainly does uh at least in my view and Reporting on on the hill it's hard to get the members of both parties to agree on a whole lot of course Biden last year was heckled by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green Republican of Georgia there's there's just sort of a deterioration of deorum I would say a lot of negotiations that do have some sort of durability are often held behind closed doors away from reporters away from the public and that's sort of what Biden I think is is trying to hearken back to this state of normaly of political normaly he of course spent years in the Senate and sees himself really as a dealmaker a legislative dealmaker that could uh usher in a new era of a more perfect union as he likes to say something the US has never achieved in his words but something that we should strive toward as a nation you mentioned at the top some of the guests who will be there everyone from Evan gershkovich is parents that he's the uh Wall Street Journal uh reporter who's been detained in Russia of course he has New Jersey ties to the families of American Israeli hostages what does that say uh about the potential tone here uh and what we might hear about policy around potential Aid packages of course it's it's a political speech that's sort of an obvious point but to your point ban the guests are are sort of clues about what to look for um the a packages uh that you mentioned are at least on Ukraine in particular they are stuck uh Biden will likely talk about an immigration deal that is stalled in the house but really for Biden to uh have a successful second term if he is reelected a lot of what he wants to do is anchored upon who controls Congress which part win in November and of course what they want to do come January 2025 our Washington correspondent Ben hulac for us there taking the pulse in DC Ben thanks so much my pleasure