PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: And for more on the president's address to a joint session of Congress tonight, let's bring in our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, and our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, both of them on Capitol Hill.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, let's begin with you.

Give us a preview of what we should expect to hear from President Trump tonight.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Amna, we expect President Trump to address this ongoing effort to strike a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

Now, one thing to watch for is whether or not President Trump decides to continue to criticize Ukraine.

The president in the past has repeatedly said that Ukraine started the war, which is false.

And the other thing that we're watching for is how he talks about his deportation plan.

That is something that is expected to be a part of his speech.

The president has been frustrated with the pace of deportations by his administration.

And border czar Tom Homan, the president's border czar, said today that the administration needs more money from Congress for flights and for beds to carry out their deportation plan.

The president is also expected to continue his attacks on transgender people as he moves to roll back rights for them across the states.

This is a population that represents roughly less than 1 percent of the American public, Amna.

And all those themes, those policies are represented in the guests that the president has invited tonight, which include the mother and sister of Laken Riley, a young female nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant.

And the president has also invited January Littlejohn, a mother from Florida who alleged that her kids' school allowed her daughter to socially transition without her parental consent.

At the time, the school's guidelines allowed this, and she sued the school district.

But, ultimately, a federal judge dismissed that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura, it has been a whirlwind six weeks since Donald Trump took office, huge cuts to the federal work force, new tariffs today.

Put this speech in that context for us.

What kind of pressure is this administration facing?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, there's a lot of questions that Americans are asking about the economy.

As you know, Geoff, the consumer confidence is down.

I was talking to a number of economists today who said that the -- there's no flashing red lights, but there are warning signs.

The stock market took a hit after the president announced these tariffs that went into effect.

And so the longer that those tariffs come, that could potentially cause lasting economic damage.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, Lisa, we know you have been talking to some of your Democratic sources on the Hill.

What are you hearing from them about how they plan to respond tonight?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

Think about this.

It is a very big night for President Trump and for Republicans, but you could argue it's equally a big night for Democrats, who have needed to find their footing after losing the election in November.

They realize this.

And they have been paying a lot of attention to how they handle tonight.

For one thing, they have -- the Democrats on the Hill held a flurry of events today.

I want to show you just a couple of them.

You see Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate leader there, on the Capitol steps railing against Trump, railing against Trump's actions so far.

And then, on the right, you see House Democratic women.

They are wearing pink tonight, Amna.

You will see that in the chamber, led by Katherine Clark, the House Democratic whip.

They want people to see Democrats have more women in the chamber than Republicans do, and they also want to show themselves as a force.

But, as you said to Laura, this is all happening as we see cuts, as we see not just reaction from lawmakers here, but protests around the country from people, federal workers who are protesting Trump's actions.

Here, we saw some protests here in Washington, but across the country yesterday, fired federal workers, people who've seen their pay cuts, all of them starting to come out in slightly larger numbers around the country.

Today, Amna, in the last day, I can report that, for example, one agency, the General Services Administration that handles the real estate, they have now told employees that there will be cuts, as well as Social Security and others.

So that is hanging over all of this.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez on Capitol Hill for us tonight, thank you to you both.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.