What’s new about Biden’s traditional speech to the US Congress?

The new US president’s first address to a joint session of Congress will be different amid COVID-19 precautions.

President Joe Biden’s first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, normally a highlight for a new president, will look very different from prior presidential addresses. “A lot of the pomp and circumstance won’t be there,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. A traditional Washington event, the annual speech is a president’s prime-time opportunity to lay out his agenda to the American public.