Katie Britt to call Biden a ‘diminished leader’ in GOP response to the State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Katie Britt will call President Joe Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” in the Republican rebuttal to his State of the Union address Thursday evening, according to excerpts of her prepared remarks.

The first-term Alabama Republican, the youngest woman in the Senate, is set to deliver a stinging election-year critique of the president, arguing that “the country we know and love seems to be slipping away.”

What to know about State of the Union

• What is it? A look at the history of the address ahead of Biden’s speech.
• The Republican party is backing the youngest female senator, Sen. Katie Britt, to give the response to President Biden’s speech.
• The guest list for this year highlights a divide on abortion and immigration but offers some rare unity in some cases.

President Joe Biden is set to deliver his 2024 State of the Union address at 9 p.m. EST. Follow our live coverage here.

Britt, a 42 year-old former congressional staffer and mother of two, was elected to the Senate in 2022 with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. She promised to come to Washington as a “momma on a mission” and has carved out a unique role in the GOP conference as an adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and an experienced former aide on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It’s the third year in a row that Republicans have picked a woman to speak to the nation after Biden leaves the podium — and Britt’s remarks echo the same dark vision for the future under Biden and Democrats laid out by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023 and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2022.

“For years, the left has coddled criminals and defunded the police — all while letting repeat offenders walk free,” Britt will say in her