2019 State of the Union Address significant person Rick Perry
Background
Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution states that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sent an invitation to President Donald Trump on January 3, 2019, to deliver a "State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 in the House Chamber." The invitation was sent just hours after her election to Speaker of the House. On January 6, President Trump commented to reporters that "I will be making the State of the Union on January 29. And I look forward to it. I look forward to it. And I look forward to speaking, really, before the world. We have a lot of great things to say."The Cabinet of Donald Trump, the heads of the 14 of 15 executive departments, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nine sitting Supreme Court justices, and members of Congress were invited to attend. Fifteen guests chosen by First Lady Melania Trump were present in the gallery. Energy Secretary Rick Perry was not in attendance as he was named the designated survivor.Address
The State of the Union Address was given at 9:00 p.m. EST on February 5, 2019. President Trump began the address without an introduction from Speaker Pelosi, breaking with a SOTU custom. During the speech, Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat behind Trump. U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was named the designated survivor and was at an undisclosed location during the address so that, in case of a catastrophe, the continuity of government would be upheld.The speech lasted 82 minutes, making it the third longest State of the Union Address. During the speech, Trump discussed bipartisanship, the economy, jobs, unemployment, tax reform, energy production, unity, the opioid crisis, prison reform, immigration, border security, the border wall, trade, infrastructure, prescription drugs, HIV/AIDS, cancer, family leave, abortion, national security, North Korea, Venezuela, the Middle East, ISIS, Afghanistan, Iran, antisemitism, veterans, and opportunity. He also discussed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, socialism, and the War in Afghanistan.
During the address, President Trump announced his next summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The summit took place on February 27–28, 2019 in Vietnam.In his Address, Trump asserted that "The savage gang MS-13 now operates in at least 20 different American states and they almost all come through our southern border... Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border, they are going to keep streaming right back in." The Washington Post fact checker found that MS-13 is active primarily in Los Angeles, Long Island (New York), and the Washington, D.C. metro area. The Washington Post also concluded that 1,332 illegal alien members of MS-13 were deported in fiscal year 2018.