>> at president of the united states. >> tuesday night, president donald trump gives his first state of the union address to congress and the nation. join us on c-span for a preview of the evening starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. then the state of the union speech live at 9:00 p.m. following this speech, the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy. we'll also hear your reaction and comments from members of congress. president trump's state of the union address, tuesday night, live on c-span. listen live on the free c-span radio app and available live or on demand on your desktop, phone, or tablet at c-span.org. >> coming up live coverage of today's white house briefing with press secretary sarah sanders. scheduled to begin in about 10 minutes. 1:15 p.m. eastern time. at the white house earlier

today president trump swore in his new secretary of health and human services. former drug company executive alex aczar in the roosevelt room. we'll look at this. bout 10 minutes.

president trump: very special day for me because we have been looking for this day for a long time. i'm thrilled to be here to administer the oath of office to america's new secretary of health and human services, mr. alex aczar. -- azar. going to get those prescription drug prices way down as a little bit of extra, right? it's going to come rocketing down. alex is joined today by his father, alex, thank you. congratulations. of course i'll only say congratulations if he does a great job, right? which i know he will. which i know he will. we have no doubt. you're right. i don't, either. his wife, jennifer, his daughter, claire. his son alex, sister stacey and her family. and his sister-in-law beth and her husband and numerous friends. thank you for being here. we appreciate it. alex appreciates it. upon taking his oath of office,

alex will take the helm of a department he has already served with tremendous distinction. first as general counsel and later as deputy secretary. in both those roles alex was outstanding and i credible public servant. people talk about him to this day. he was instrumental in improving the department's operations and advancing its emergency response capabilities. alex knows inside and out the pact of government policy on patients, health care, and prices. as the former president of lili, u.s.a., big company, great company, did an incredible job. he brings invaluable private sector experience to complement his years of public service. the department of health and patients, health care, and prices. as the human services has already achieve add great deal rolling back regulations that drive up health care costs. but we have a long way to go. a lot of people are very happy with the amount we have done already, but alex is going to bring that to a big brand new

level. as our new secretary, alex will continue to implement the administrative and regulatory changes needed to ensure that our citizens get the affordable, high quality care they deserve. he will help our efforts to confront the national emergency of addiction and death due to opioids. i think we're going to be very tough on the drug companies in that regard and very tough on doctors in that regard. because what's going on is pretty i credible -- christian edible. put an end to this plague on the lives of families and communities. people go in for a minor operation into a hospital, they come out, they are addicted to opioids. they are addicted to drugs. after a short period of time. we have to get the prices of prescription drugs way down and unravel the tangled web of special interests that are driving prices up for medicine and for really hurting patients. and we're going to get that done. that's going to be so

important. you look at other countries, they pay a fraction for the exact same drugs. the exact same pill in an identical box from the same factory costs us much more. many times more than it does in other countries. and nobody knows that process alex. than we're going to get it done because it's very unfair to our country. neighboring countries pay a tiny fraction of what we pay for alex. the same exact pill made in the same location. and, alex, i know there is no one more capable, qualified, and committed than you to overcoming these incredible challenges. so important. and i will say this. prices is going to be one the s the big things. whenever i speak to alex, i speak to him about that, i think prior to anything else. and i know you can do it. you know the system and can do it because it's wrong. now i'll ask vice president

pence to formally administer the oath. i just want to congratulate alex and his family and god bless you-all. he's got a very important job to do. thank you. us you for giving him to and we'll give him the chance. you gave him to us. we appreciate it very much. thank you. [applause] vice president pence: place your left hand on the bible raise your right hand. solemnly zarii do swear. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> that will i support and defend the constitution of the united states. vice president pence: against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. vice president pence: i will

bear true faith aand allegiance to the same. i take this obligation freely. any mental reservation. >> without any mental reservation. vice president pence or purpose of evasion. >> or purpose of evasion. vice president pence: i will well and faithfully discharge the duties. of the office upon which i'm bout to enter. so help me god. >> so help me god. [applause] so help me >> what an honor it is today to become the 24th secretary of health and human services here in the united states. only in america, the grandchild and great grandchild of immigrants from lebanon, the ukraine, england, switzerland et to have that opportunity. mr. president, thank you so much for the confidence that you have bestowed upon me and

the incredible department you have entrusted me with. mr. vice president, thank you for your many years of friendship and for administering the oath today. and to my family, to jennifer and the rest of my family, thank you for all of the many years of support and for the years of support coming. it's going to be tough. but we'll do well with it. i also would like to thank the 79,000 womenmen and women of h.h.s. who it is now my great honor to lead. i know these people. i know this team. and the deep commitment that they have to the mission of h.h.s., to enhance and protect the well-being and health of all americans. that is a solemn charge. it is a charge that i am committed to. and as you heard from the president today, it is a charge that includes his personal direction to me that we have to tackle the scourge of the opioid crisis and bringing down prescription drug prices. i look forward to that mission, the work ahead, now it's time to get to work.

thank you-all very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] president trump: we worked on it hard. including our great success with the markets and tax cut. it's a big speech. important speech. immigration. for many years, for many, many years they have been talking immigration. never got anything done. we'll get something done. we hope it's going to be bipartisan. e republicans really don't have the votes to get have the votes to get it done in any other way. it has to be bipartisan. hopefully the democrats will join us, or enough of them will join us so we can do something great. for daca and for immigration generally. but it's going to be a very important speech on trade. the world has taken advantage

of us on trade for many years. as you probably notice we're stopping that and stopping it cold. we have to. we have to have reciprocal trade. it's not a one-way deal anymore. we have a lot of things to discuss. we'll be discussing it. i hope you enjoy it. i thank you-all very much. see you tomorrow night. >> now look inside the brady briefing room where we'll take you live here on c-span as soon

as the briefing with press secretary sarah sanders begins. scheduled to begin any moment now. also let you know f.b.i. deputy designator andrew mccabe has announced he's stepping aside as deputy director. he planned on retiring in mid march. earlier this month "the washington post" reported that after president trump had fired f.b.i. director james comey, he met with mr. mccabe in the oval office and asked him who he voted for in the 2016 election. we could hear questions about the announcement during today's white house briefing. but before that begins, we'll look at some of the new tax policies with the i.r.s. taxpayer advocate. >> welcome back to the program. >> a remind people about your position. guest: i am the voice of the taxpayer inside the i.r.s. i head the taxpayer advocate service. it's about ,