Freed Hamas Hostages, Gold Star Families and Rapper Fat Joe: Lawmakers Highlight Key Issues with Guests for Biden’s State of the Union Address

Lawmakers plan to raise relevant issues and shine light on current issues with hand-picked guests at President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.

The evening is expected to be a referendum on Biden’s old age as he gears up for a grueling campaign swing in 2024. It will feature a speech from Biden, followed by a Republican Party rebuttal from Sen. Katie Britt, R- Ala.

Viewers can expect raucous brawling, like last year when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouted “liar” at Biden, and loud cheers from Democrats rushing to defend their 2024 nominee.

Here is a list of notable guests who will watch the president deliver his fourth annual address to a joint session of Congress:

Cuban Democratic Opposition Leader Will Troll ‘Squad’ Democrats

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, the only Cuban-born member of Congress, is bringing Cuban dissident Maria Paya Acevedo.

Her father, Oswaldo Payá, was murdered after decades of fighting Castro’s communist regime and founding the Christian Liberation Movement.

Her family is now suing former US Ambassador Manuel Rocha for conspiracy in her father’s death. Rocha pleaded guilty last week to more than forty years of espionage for communist Cuba.

It comes in response to Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., secretly traveling to Cuba to meet with the Socialist government.

“She joins me in denouncing Cuba’s continued brutality, demanding freedom for all political prisoners and holding the regime accountable for its crimes against humanity. Recently, my colleagues from the fringes traveled to Havana to meet with officials of the Castro regime to serve as apologists and lobby on their behalf. “I am proud to join Rosa María in continuing to loudly condemn the evil of the Cuban regime,” Gimenez said in a statement.

Deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan back in the spotlight

Republicans are not letting go of Biden almost two and a half years after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Biden was heavily criticized last year for not mentioning the exit at all, and none of his Cabinet secretaries have been held accountable for the event that killed 13 U.S. service members and hundreds of Afghan allies.

Chairman of State McCaul brings with him Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of thirteen U.S. troops killed in the ISIS-K terror attack in Kabul during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Texas Republican Committee has aggressively investigated Biden’s withdrawal.

Hamas hostages released as Israel’s war in Gaza continues

Speaker Mike Johnson brings released Israeli hostage Mia Schem as one of his guests. Schem spent 50 days in Hamas captivity.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries brings Andrea Weinstein, sister of Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai.

Weinstein Haggai was killed by Hamas after being taken hostage and Gad Haggai was reportedly killed in the October 7 attack.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., will bring along Adi Alexander and Jonathan Dekel-Chen, two fathers of Americans currently still in Hamas captivity.

Parents of wrongly imprisoned journalist Evan Gerschkovich

The speaker also brings along Evan Gerschkovich’s parents.

Gerschkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been stuck in Russia for more than a year.

“Hosting Evan’s parents brings attention to the unjust detention of their son,” Johnson said.

Republicans are keeping immigration top of mind, while border officials are on the front lines

GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik will bring along Brandon Budlong, a Border Patrol agent and leader of the Border Patrol Union.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty brings Tennessee Governor Bill Lee after sending the Tennessee National Guard to the border.

Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Anthony D’Esposito, Republicans of New York, are bringing along a pair of NYPD officers — Lt. Ben Kurian and Officer Zunxu Tian — who were brutally attacked in a now-viral video by migrants in Times Square.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., is bringing along Marvin Weatherwax — a leader of the Blackfeet Native American tribe and member of the Montana state House — to draw attention to issues at the northern border.

“Zinke and I share our concerns about the border and fentanyl destroying my home on the Blackfeet Reservation and tribes across the country. The Blackfeet Nation shares a 70-mile border with Canada, where our patrol is completely understaffed and underfunded,” Weatherwax said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

“The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Border Patrol have blocked resources so we can deal with the matter, and in the meantime, the DOJ is nowhere to be found.”

Americans ‘wrongfully detained’ in China as US counters rising aggression

Republican Rep. Nick LaLota is bringing two guests to the event: one is Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, a resident of his New York district who has been “wrongfully” detained in China since 2016 on espionage charges.

LaLota has long called on President Biden to do more to bring the elder Li back to the US

He also brings along Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who spent time in a Japanese prison while stationed there in the U.S. Navy, because he says he suffered from acute mountain sickness, lost consciousness and had an accident that killed two others.

LaLota has called on the House of Representatives to take up his bill that would reduce the number of military personnel in countries where no legal protection agreements exist.

Democrats hammer Republicans on IVF after Alabama ruling and abortion rights

After an Alabama Supreme Court ruling ruled that embryos have the same rights as children, the practice effectively ended in the state as health care providers feared being sued for handling nonviable embryos.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., brings Elizabeth Carr, the first baby born through IVF in 1981, as his guest. Carris from Norfolk, Virginia.

“In the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is more important than ever that we commit to protecting access to IVF services across the country. We must work to protect IVF so that the Elizabeth Carrs of the world can continue to be born,” he said in a statement.

Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana doctor who controversially gave a 10-year-old Ohio boy an abortion after Roe v. Wade was struck down, will attend as a guest of Rep. Judy Chu, D-California.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., hires reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist Dr. Amanda Adeleye of Illinois joined, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said his guest would be infertility activist Roshni Kamta.

Rapper Fat Joe promotes healthcare price transparency

Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., will bring the rapper, who works with advocacy group Power to the Patients, to advocate for Congress to pass legislation to enforce price transparency in the health care system.

Justice for the Dreamers: Democrats want progress for immigrants

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, announced that his State of the Union guest Dr. Denisse Rojas Marquez would be a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

She leads Pre-Health Dreamers, an organization that helps immigrants pursue careers in healthcare and medicine.

Victims of nuclear contamination in the spotlight

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is inviting Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms in St. Louis, a grassroots group that advocates for victims of nuclear contamination, to Thursday’s address.

Hawley has pushed for a Senate vote on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which aims to compensate victims nationwide exposed to radioactive waste.

Rare disease advocate

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., will bring Kari Rosbeck, president and CEO of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.

Schmitt’s son, Stephen, is diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, a rare disease that causes tumors in major organs.

Schmitt and Rosbeck have worked together for years and are proud to bring her along to raise awareness of the condition, his office confirmed to DailyMail.com.