WASHINGTON (AP) — Going into Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Joe Biden sees a nation with its future aglow.

Republicans take a far bleaker view — that the country is beset by crushing debt and that Biden is largely responsible for inflation. And the GOP now holds a House majority intent on blocking the president.

The harder reality is that the United States is on a tight rope, trying to balance efforts to reduce inflation with the need to stay upright and avoid falling into a recession. That's with the seemingly inherent contradiction of the Federal Reserve's interest rate incr...