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news america. íd president biden is set to deliver his annual state of the union address. what the individuals invited by the first lady could say about that speech. he will announce a new way to get aid to gaza, going into the strip by the sea. the bbc goes behind the front lines as residents of eastern ukraine brace for more russian advances. hello and welcome to world news america, i am caitríona perry. president biden is getting ready to deliver his state of the union speech to congress and american people. he will announce he is directing the military to create a report

on gaza's coast to get more aid to the strip. ships will travel across the mediterranean from cyprus to a port that senior officials say he will announce he is directing the military to create to help get more aid into the strip. the plan will take several weeks to execute in partnership with aid agencies as the situation in gaza remains critical. he is also expected to use his address to emphasize political priorities before the november presidential election. cbs shows joe biden has a 42% approval rating right now. 61% of voters think the country is divided. 28 guests will accompany dr. jill biden to watch the speech. stockholm becomes the newest member of nato and the sister of

one victims of eight shooting in uvalde, texas, has since become a leading advocate for uncontrolled. founder of the women's alzheimer's movement, maria shriver, focuses on reproductive health challenges. also in the guest list, a civil rights activist who walked in selma, alabama, in 19 65 and members of the united auto workers union. democrats and republicans both invited advocates for action on the growing opioid crisis. guests will attend on the invitation of speaker johnson. the mother and son of an american taking captive by hamas while serving as a soldier in the israeli defense forces.

and a member kidnapped by hamas while attending a music festival was held in gaza before being released in december. joining me now on capitol hill is helen humphrey. helena, this is a big opportunity for the president to set out for voters. how high are the stakes for him? >> very high. president biden has opportunity to deal with two big challenges. he has t set up the legislative agenda for the year ahead and also make the case that he is the person to guide america through the next four years. he is facing concerns about his age and mental acuity. so it will not just be about what he says, it will be about the way in which he says it. he is expected to speak about issues at the top of mind like immigration and the economy.

he is likely to say the state of the union is sound, particularly in light of historic employment ratings. but people are not feeling it in their pocket so is expected to make the case for further taxation on the wealthy and driving down trump's prices. he will be watched by allies and adversities when it comes to aid to ukraine and gaza. i spoke about this with senator tim kaine of virginia. thank you very much for joining us on bbc news. i would like to start with the state of the union address. it is coming at a time when president biden faces his highest disapproval rating. what does he need to do tonight to persue -- to assuage voter concerns? >> i have been to many of these

and they do follow a format. we talk about achievements and then what we still need to do and the president has a lot of achievements to talk about. manufacturing jobs are up, stock market up, inflation coming down , unemployment down. and on the global stage, the u.s. helping democracies with the expansion of nato. so he has a lot of positives to talk about. but it is always what we will do tomorrow more than yesterday so then you talk about the plans we still had. we made big strides bringing down the cost of prescription drugs but we could do more. i think he will talk about that and the critical battle in the nation for reproductive freedom. reporter: we saw late last night in alabama the governor signed ivf treatment.to law to protect does it alleviate concerns? >> it does not because legislation is narrow.

alabama says destruction of a fertilized embryo could have criminal consequences. what was signed last night is that if you are sued, you can hire a lawyer to defend you. but that cost midnight -- money and does not answer the question. does the state celebrate ivf? might you lose your license or credentialing? we need to give rocksolid certainty to americans if they choose to use ivf that they will be protected so that is the moment we have with tammy duckworth. reporter: elizabeth carr, the first baby in the united states to be conceived through ivf. you say the battle is about more than infertility. what do you mean? >> it is absolutely critical that people think about what this actually impacts. it is not just about those who are experiencing infertility, it is for anyone going on military

deployment, the time for pregnancy, people going through cancer treatments, people who are same-sex couples who want to use a donor egg or donor's firm. it is a wide -- donor sperm. it is a wide swath of the population now, not just those experiencing infertility. reporter: thank you. we know the biden administration employees to announce a seaport in gaza as the work continues. the civilian death toll as bombarded -- bombardment continues remains very high. do you expect a changing tac from biden in terms of how he deals with the netanyahu administration? >> i think you saw a dramatic change when the u.s. started air dropping humanitarian supplies in gaza. it was a recognition from biden that we cannot count on israel to do it so the u.s. and jordan are doing it and i think the idea of the ports is a further example of that.

the most important thing right now is for us to try to get to the hostages. if we can get a hostage release deal to produce a truce, we can bring aid into gaza and talk about extending the cease-fire and have a long overdue discussion about the palestinian future. reporter: that is the situation with aid and hostages but bombardment continues to be a significant problem, particularly in terms of the scales. do you see pressure? >> i have writn to the president and i support israel's right to defend itself against hamas and their pledge to destroy it but at this point, any airstrike should be defense weapons, not those that will lead to significant civilian casualties. reporter: the war in ukraine continues with serious attacks. what are your thoughts on whether we will see weaponry

from the united states supplied in good time when ukraine is trying to defend itself? >> we have been robust in support of ukrainian democracy but in the last few months we have been too slow. we were talking about the supplemental securit package in september and it is far past time to get it done. we need to provide ukraine robust support that will get them well into next year and we are putting pressure on the house to take it up. the votes are on the floor for the house to do it but the question is if the speaker will allow a floor votes of the will of the body is heard. reporter: and finally tonight, unofficially this could be seen as a reelection speech for presidenbiden. what does he need to say regarding driving the message home of who can defeat donald trump? >> he has defeated donald trump before. there might be others who could do it but he is the only one who has done it, as he has often said. i do not think you will hear trump's name tonight but i think

the mixture of one third accomplishments and two thirds here is still what we need to do to protect ivf and strengthen our ties with democracies, that will paint a contrast with the donald trump's threat to get out of nato, he makes a specialty at of tearing down alliances, he is a teardown specialist. joe biden is the guy who stands for others and i think we will see that tonight. reporter: senator mccain speaking earlier. president biden has been meeting with advisors at camp david this week to prepare for his speech. last week we saw some off cough -- off-the-cuff comments when he was peppered by hecklers. we will see what happens tonight. the stakes could not be more high. caitríona: joining us now is the house intelligence committee

chairman republican mike turner from ohio. thank you for being with us here on bbc news. sticking with the issue of the state of the union address tonight, what do you expect to hear from president biden? >> he will have to make the case that he is willing to change his immigration policies. the problem of the open southern border and the people that have been brought into the united states that are not following the regular legal immigration policies need to be addressed. over 80 million people have come through the unsecured border in the south and the president created this crisis and he needs to lay out how to address it. reporter: do you think he might bypass yourself and your colleagues and unveil executive action himself? >> his action created this and

the moment he took office he began signing executive orders that open the border and created the crisis, including the flights entering the u.s. which is an illegal program under current statutes. the president will have to make the case that he will address the crisis that is crushing for cities and communities and school systems. immigrants from haiti have been part of this immigration plan that are flown from haiti by mayorkas. this is something the president knows and americans are overwhelmingly against and he will have to answer how he will stop and reverse this crisis happening. reporter: another issue we know he will address is the war between israel and hamas in

gaza. we hear that the u.s. military will bring in aid off the mediterranean sea and into the gaza strip. he is no longer waiting for israel to deal with this. flying over their heads. what does it say about the relationship at this point? >> i am sure the administration is working directly with israel. director burns of the cia has been working with israel and attempting to get the israeli hostages taken october 7 released and certainly the coordination of aid into gaza has occurred with israel itself so i am sure this is happening in coordination, it is not just the u.s. entering a conflict zone. caitríona: on the issue of the hostage deal, do you have any information about getting nearer to a deal? >> director burns, director of

the cia has been putting forth proposals to give a cease fire some space to make sure humanitarian aid can get into gaza but at the same time the requirement that hostages be released, his or hostages that were taken during the atrocities october 7 from israel into gaza and their safety is of utmost concern. caitríona: you and your colleagues in the house passed legislation to avoid a shutdown. where does that leave funding for ukraine, which has been promised? but yet to be agreed? >> -- promised but yet to be agreed? >> speaker johnson has said we will be able to move forward with aid to ukraine and israel and gaza. it's incredibly important we

move those forward, the crisis unfolding in ukraine as a result of u.s. aid not being -- changing the battle skate, changing the front lines, we have to get them the weapons systems including long-range weapons. as we get through the budgetary, we have one more bills -- one more group of bills to pass. caitríona: can you put on it? president zelenskyy has said they are running out of simple ammunition. >> i am optimistic that the vote will occur this month. there are a number of things that have to going to play for it to happen but i am optimistic at this time. caitríona: mike turner from ohio, thank you for joining us on bbc news. at every state of the union, there is usually a rebuttal speech from the other party.

alabama senator katie britt will speak for the republican party, the youngest republican woman to ever be elected to the u.s. senate. delacruz from texas will give the spanish rebuttal. reaching hispanic communities is critical for both parties, they are a critically large vote, especially in arizona, which has one of the biggest hispanic populations in the country. both are vying for the hispanic and latino vote. reporter: politics start from the ground up, and door to door. a democrat and latina served as a state legislature and now she is running for congress in a heavily hispanic neighborhood. what are your top issues of concern? for latino voters, cost-of-living, immigration,

cost-of-living -- and housing are top of mind, and uncertainty. the power of the latino vote is growing. their share of the u.s. electorate doubled over the last two decades. in arizona, one in four eligible voters are hpanic in a critical battleground state. arizona used to be reliably republican but the latino vote help to biden when a narrow victory in the last election by just 10,000 votes. republicans have been gaining grounds with latinos. >> my parents are democrats. my brother and i are republican. my children are deciding for themselves. i think we are already seeing more republican registration in the latino community in arizona. i think people are looking for

answers and solutions and have perhaps felt the impact of pricing on gas and food. they think a republican candidate might be a better choice for them. reporter: what difference can republican candidates make for the voters? >> lessen the inflation impact and look at taxation and the burden on the small business community in particular. reporter: small businesses are the lifeblood of this community infinity -- in phoenix and voters are looking for both parties to deliver on promises. >> they have not done what they said. they use the hispanic vote for themselves but truly nothing gets done. >> we have a voice and that we are heard. housing and working and equal rights. i think if you are here and you are working and paying taxes, i

think you deserve something more. >> helping people. reporter: this woman represent -- she witnesses the frustration. >> it's important to listen to what they have to say. we need comprehensive immigration reform and make sure we provide services for our communities and i am confident the democrats are the ones who are talking about solutions. reporter: for both parties, the road to victory this fall will run through arizona and the latino community. caitríona: we will have full coverage of the state of the union address on the bbc news channel from washington and also streaming on the bbc news website so do join us. president biden will use his speech to announce that the u.s. will get aid into gaza by the sea. a temporary report by gaza city

will be constructed to receive the aid. the plan will take several weeks. u.s. officials are blaming hamas for a breakdown in negotiations over a cease-fire, which is needed to bring relief to those in gaza. hamas left talks in egypt, saying israel had thwarted attempts to reach a deal. israel says hamas rejected the attempts and have allowed displaced palestinians to return home. forces in eastern -- russian forces in eastern ukraine are slowly gaining ground. president zelenskyy says stalling support is to blame and a huge u.s. package is still being blocked. russians continue pushing forward but a lack of new military aid from the u.s.

towards ukraine's ability to block the russian invasion. civilians feel they are in imminent danger. james water reports -- jas waterhouse reports. reporter: eastern ukraine is being rated. russian forces are approaching, taking village after village. for those living here, death and occupation field imminent. the larry and his grandson have taken up the offer of evacuation. their home is in russian sites. here it is making size and ammunition reserves count. ukrainian forces are going backwards and with the larry's town constantly shelled, it is time to go. >> i have lived my life already. but i need to save the little

one. reporter: police take them to a place of relative safety but increasingly less so. the city is used to being close to the battlefield but the risk of being captured is growing. when ukraine liberated territory over a year ago, there was hope. but the tide has not just changed, it is approaching. now there is fair that cities like this will be destroyed and the people will be forced to flee. this is what russia does when it tries to take ukrainian territory and this is what moscow still calls liberation. for tatiana and her daughter maria, strikes on the city leave them with a difficult choice. >> we are tired all day. we have bad moods and panic attacks. constant depression. it is scary to go outside. reporter: are you going to

leave? >> i have already left twice. what is the point? it is scary everywhere. everywhere. the whole country is on fire. reporter: while tatiana is staying, maria is already sending her belongings west. today it is the tv she and her son -- it is the tv taking the route she and her son will g >> i hope she will follow. my mother only has us. we only have her. reporter: in a nearby train station, the faint sounds of artillery provide a sobering reception and a reason to leave. for all the geopolitics, this region is that the face of russian invasion and the people feel it more than ever. >> one year ago, we still hoped to receive help from the west

and that the counteroffensive would work. not anymore. people used to believe, but not anymore. reporter: ukraine hopes the east will some time be safe to live but right now it is unclear what people will be returning to. caitríona: sweden has become the 32nd member of nato after stockholm formally ratified the move. they bring 50,000 troops to the military alliance and the pledge to quickly meet nato's goal that members spend 2% of gdp on defense. one of their biggest assets is the swedish coastline. the baltic sea, russia's gateway to the atlantic, is now almost completely controlled by nato. i'm caitríona perr announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by...

financial services firm, raymond james. bdo. accountants and advisors. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> good evening and welcome to pbs news special coverage of president biden's state of the union address. i'm geoff bennett. amna: i'm amna nawaz. president biden is expected to