Watch Biden’s State of the Union address here

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union address Tuesday night at the US Capitol.

The speech comes amid the biggest military crisis in Europe since the Cold War as Russia continues its assault on Ukraine after launching an unprovoked attack on the nation. It also comes amid record inflation and spiking consumer prices, and as many Americans feel fatigued during a pandemic that has stretched into its third year.

Biden's remarks will provide an opportunity to tout his achievements from the first year of his administration -- including the national vaccination program, the Covid-19 relief law and the bipartisan infrastructure law -- while also addressing the challenges the nation is facing and lay out what comes next. The President is facing some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency just months before midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress. The speech could help give the President and Democrats a boost and provide some momentum heading into campaign season.

The address to Congress comes days after the President put forward his first Supreme Court nominee. If confirmed by the Senate, Ketanji Brown Jackson would make history as the first Black woman to sit on the nation's highest court.

This will be Biden's first State of the Union address -- last year he delivered his first joint address to Congress a few months after being sworn in as president, but it wasn't considered a State of the Union address.

Here's what you need to know about how to watch the President's speech.

What time is the President's speech? 

Biden will deliver his remarks at 9 p.m. ET.

Where can I watch it? 

You can watch it below.

CNN's coverage of the State of the Union Address and Republican Response will stream live, without requiring a cable log-in, on CNN.com's homepage and across mobile devices via CNN's apps for iOS and Android on Tuesday, 8 p.m.-12 a.m. ET. It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone, and iPad, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Chromecast and Roku).

Who is delivering the Republican response? 

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will deliver the Republicans' response to Biden's speech. Reynolds will deliver her address to the nation from Des Moines, Iowa, after the conclusion of Biden's speech.

Reynolds has drawn national attention and sparked controversy for her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of those moves include signing legislation into law that blocks mask mandates from being implemented in K-12 schools and prohibits cities and counties from requiring facial coverings in businesses. The governor also signed a bill into law last year that grants unemployment benefits to those who lose their jobs because they refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Will members of Congress be able to attend the speech?

Yes. All members of Congress have been invited to attend the State of the Union, which is a change from last year when only a limited number of lawmakers were allowed in the House chamber because of the pandemic.

Masks will also be optional for lawmakers. The US Capitol's attending physician said Sunday that masks would be optional on Capitol Hill starting Monday.

Here's what to watch for during Biden's State of the Union address:

A defense of democracy in Ukraine

White House officials and allies have said the war in Ukraine will become a major focus for Biden's remarks, a pivot that's taken place as Russia invaded the eastern European nation.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged on Monday that the conflict will play an outsized role in the President's speech, saying during the briefing that "there's no question that this speech is a little different than it would have been just a few months ago."

Psaki said Biden is expected to lay out the efforts he has taken on "to rally the world to stand up for democracy and against Russian aggression."

Biden, who has long asserted that the battle between autocracies and democracies would be the challenge of his lifetime, is expected to discuss the US' importance as a global leader and the efforts he's made to mitigate the impacts of the war in Ukraine on Americans, like rising gas prices.

He will also talk about the steps the US has taken to target Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle for Russia's acts of war against Ukraine. "And he will talk about the steps he's taken to mitigate the impact of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine, on the global economy and the American people," Psaki added.

Steps to bolster the economy

Biden will talk about inflation during his address, the White House says, outlining a new plan to lower costs for American families. And while he'll tout economic gains over the past year, the President is expected to underscore that there is "more work" to do toward lowering costs, according to officials -- an acknowledgment that despite a strong recovery, many Americans are still pessimistic about the economy.

The White House says the President will specifically lay out a four-point plan to lower costs for American families and continue on the US' economic recovery amid the pandemic: making more goods in America, reducing everyday expenses, promoting fair competition and eliminating barriers to "good-paying jobs" for American workers.

Along with new efforts being announced, Biden will talk about how his administration's work aided in the country's economic recovery.

He is expected to call on Congress to act on aspects of his signature social spending legislation, Build Back Better, which has stalled in Congress since Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced he'd oppose the bill.

But a senior administration official previewing Tuesday's remarks wouldn't say if Biden would call explicitly for passage of Build Back Better by name, just one month after Manchin told reporters the legislation was "dead."

A 'new normal'

For the first time since taking office, Biden will deliver a joint address to Congress in a full House chamber where masks are optional -- a major change from his speech last year, which featured a masked audience with extremely limited, socially distanced seating.

The symbolism of the night comes amid changes to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on masking and the White House's work to develop a strategy for the next phase of the pandemic.

Biden is expected to address the evolution of the pandemic and America's response to it during the speech. His comments come ahead of the release of a new Covid strategy document.

Led by Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients, White House officials have spent weeks putting together a new document outlining the administration's strategy to tackle the next phase of the pandemic, officials said. It's expected to address how the nation can mitigate the impacts of Covid while reestablishing a sense of normalcy in the country.

Political victory laps

Democrats face an uphill battle to maintain control of the House when they head into the midterm elections this fall. And it's clear they hope the President can deliver a message to celebrate his and his party's wins that gets through to voters and boosts his poll numbers.

Biden, who started the second year of his term with one of the lowest approval ratings of a modern-day president, has acknowledged that his administration has not adequately touted its political victories.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain told House Democrats in mid-February that he was hoping the address would boost Biden's polling, in part by demonstrating leadership on national security and by showing empathy for Americans frustrated with Covid-19 and inflation. The recent historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court was also expected to be a boost.

But some Democrats, like Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, have warned that the President's domestic agenda and any accomplishments he will outline during the address have effectively "been eclipsed by Ukraine."

The speech comes on the same night that the midterm election season effectively begins with primary elections in Texas. It's the first statewide election to be held under Texas' new restrictive voting law, and Biden has made voting rights a major focus in recent months, though he has been stymied in getting federal legislation passed to address the issue.

Polls will close statewide at 9 p.m. ET, as Biden's speech gets underway, but most polls in the state will close an hour earlier.

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