By MARY CLARE JALONICK and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Can lawmakers all just listen to the president — even for one night?

Recent history is not assuring. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “you lie!” at President Barack Obama when he was giving a joint speech to Congress in 2009. Eleven years later, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech as she stood behind him on the House rostrum.

Partisan tensions have only deepened on Capitol Hill since Pelosi’s defiant act last year, which came days before the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial. Since then, the U.S. Capitol has been through the Jan. 6 insurrection, a second impeachment of Trump and another acquittal.

Trust between the parties, and between members themselves, has cratered as Joe Biden prepares to address the House and the Senate for the first time in his presidency.

While Trump often added a reality TV star’s drama to his congressional addresses, Biden — who has spent most of his adult life in government service — has the chance to play the elder statesman. Lawmakers in both parties say Wednesday’s address to Congress presents an opportunity for him to push past some of the antics and anger, for a few hours at least.

“I think the tension is high, but the one person who can cool the temperature in the room is Joe Biden,” especially if he reaches across the aisle, said former Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, a Republican who retired two years ago and has expressed frustration about the decline of congressional decorum and civility.

Biden’s first speech to Congress — called an “address to a joint session of Congress” instead of a “State of the Union,” as is customary in a president’s first year — will already be unlike any other, as attendance will be limited due to COVID-19 safety protocols.

With the the House out of session for the week, many, if not most, House Republicans are expected to skip the event, increasing the chances that Biden will be speaking to a mostly friendly audience of Democrats. The Senate is in session, but some Republicans from that chamber are expected to skip as well — Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Monday that he’s thinking of watching the speech on TV because “it sounds like Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want us to attend.”

Other traditions have also been jettisoned for the address. Lawmakers can’t bring guests, removing one source of drama and speculation. Nor will there be guests of the first lady in the gallery, depriving Biden of the ability to humanize his policy proposals and manufacture feel-good moments.

Even if there is bad behavior in the room, the White House says the president’s goal is to focus on the voters outside the Capitol.

“It’ll look different, but from his vantage point it still is an opportunity to speak directly to the American people,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “We are looking for ways to engage with the American public, whether it’s through viewing parties or ways to communicate about what the president is proposing. But it won’t look or feel or sound like it has in the past.”

Members of the Biden team have made no secret of their strategy to bypass GOP lawmakers and seek a solid foothold of support from Republican voters. They note that their policies are generally popular, and the result, so far, appears to be less resistance from GOP supporters. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll in March found that 60% of people approve of Biden’s performance on the economy, including a relatively strong 25% of Republicans. About half of Republicans approve of how Biden has handled the pandemic.

Because Biden’s team believes the policies are popular, they’ve been more willing to invite public debate with Republicans. It can feel like a return to greater civility, even if Republicans are still grumbling about his proposals.

David Barker, director of American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, said Biden’s speech may not move policy, but “it may help him with a few voters around the edges, putting Republicans in swing districts in a bit of a squeeze” to explain why they are voting against his plans.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said he plans to skip the event and give his spot to a freshman lawmaker. But “in the end, what he says is going to be important, and I hope his speech is more focused on unifying as opposed to just having a go-it-alone strategy.”

Even Joe Wilson, who is still in Congress, is encouraging Biden to reach out across party lines.

“Working across the aisle is essential for Congress in order to do what is best for American families,” Wilson said in a statement. He noted that he apologized to Obama’s White House after his 2009 outburst and has proposed bipartisan legislation since.

Still, Wilson’s words a decade ago were a harbinger of a more partisan era on Capitol Hill, which increasingly attracts politicians more concerned with fame than legislation. Rude or outspoken behavior is often rewarded with popularity, TV appearances and fundraising dollars.

Rooney, who was elected the year before Wilson interrupted Obama’s speech, said that respectfully listening to the president, no matter the party, used to be the norm. He recalled that he would follow party leaders’ signals, not even standing up to clap unless they did.

“We’ve gone from extended standing applause to outbursts where people might be able to make news in the room themselves, and then raise money off that,” Rooney said.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said the scene on the floor can feel tense, and “you sort of wonder who’s going to do what next.” But he predicted this year’s speech will be calmer, not only because of the reduced numbers, but because Biden is different than his predecessors.

While Trump was combative and Obama was often cerebral, Himes said, Biden connects well with others in a way that could potentially “transcend partisanship and calm tempers” in Congress.

“I honestly believe the best thing Joe Biden can do is to do what Joe Biden usually does, which is to speak from his heart,” Himes said.

And his advice to colleagues? “Tone down the Oscar-winning performances.”

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

By JAKE COYLE

AP – Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a wistful portrait of itinerant lives on open roads across the American West, won best picture Sunday at the 93rd Academy Awards, where the China-born Zhao became the first woman of color to win best director and a historically diverse group of winners took home awards.

In the biggest surprise of a socially distanced Oscar ceremony held during the pandemic, best actor went to Anthony Hopkins for his performance in the dementia drama “The Father.” The award had been widely expected to go to Chadwick Boseman for his final performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The night’s last award, it ended the ceremony on a down note, particularly since Hopkins wasn’t in attendance.

Hours later, Hopkins made a belated victory speech from his Welsh homeland and paid tribute to Boseman, who he said was “taken from us far too early.”

The “Nomadland” victory, while widely expected, nevertheless capped the extraordinary rise of Zhao, a lyrical filmmaker whose winning film is just her third, and which — with a budget less than $5 million and featuring a cast populated by non-professional actors — ranks as one of the most modest-sized movies to win Hollywood’s top honor. (Zhao’s next film, Marvel’s “Eternals,” has a budget approximately 40 times that of “Nomadland.”)

A plain-spoken meditation on solitude, grief and grit, “Nomadland” stuck a chord in a pandemic-ravaged year. It made for an unlikely Oscar champ: A film about people who gravitate to the margins took center stage.

“I have always found goodness in the people I’ve met everywhere I went in the world,” said Zhao when accepting best director, which Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) was the only previous woman to win. “This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves and to hold on the goodness in other no matter how difficult it is to do that.”

With a howl, “Nomadland” star Frances McDormand implored people to seek out her film and others on the big screen. Released by the Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures, “Nomadland” premiered at a drive in and debuted in theaters, but found its largest audience on Hulu.

“Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible,” McDormand said. “And one day very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theater, shoulder to shoulder in that dark space, and watch every film that’s represented here tonight.”

Soon after, McDormand won best actress, too — her third such win. Only Katharine Hepburn, a four-time winner, has won best actress more times.

The most ambitious award show held during the pandemic, the Oscars rolled out a red carpet and tried to restored some glamour to a grim year. For the first time ever, this year’s nominees were overwhelmingly seen in the home during a pandemic year that forced theaters to close and prompted radical change in Hollywood.

More women and more actors of color were nominated than ever before, and Sunday brought a litany of records and firsts across many categories, spanning everything from hairstyling to composing to acting. It was, some observers said, a sea change for an awards harshly criticized as “OscarsSoWhite” in recent years, leading the film academy to greatly expand membership.

The ceremony — fashioned as a movie of its own and styled as a laid back party — kicked off with opening credits and a slinky Regina King entrance, as the camera followed the actress and “One Night in Miami” director in one take as she strode with an Oscar in hand into Los Angeles’ Union Station and onto the stage. Inside the transit hub (trains kept running), nominees sat at cozy, lamp-lit tables around an intimate amphitheater. Some moments — like Glenn Close getting down to “Da Butt” — were more relaxed, but the ceremony couldn’t just shake off the past 14 months.

“It has been quite a year and we are still smack dab in the middle of it,” King said.

Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting actor for “Judas and the Black Messiah.” The win for the 32-year-old British actor who was previously nominated for “Get Out,” was widely expected. Kaluuya won for his fiery performance as the Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, whom Kaluuya thanked for showing him “how to love myself.”

“You’ve got to celebrate life, man. We’re breathing. We’re walking. It’s incredible. My mum met my dad, they had sex. It’s amazing. I’m here. I’m so happy to be alive,” Kaluuya said, while cameras caught his mother’s confused reaction.

With the awards capping a year of national reckoning on race and coming days after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for killing George Floyd, police brutality was on the minds of many attendees. King said that if the verdict had been different, she might have traded her heels for marching boots.

Travon Free, co-director of the live-action short winner “Two Perfect Strangers,” wore a suit jacket lined with the names of those killed by police. His film dramatizes police brutality as an inescapable time loop like a tragic “Groundhog’s Day” for Black Americans.

Best supporting actress went to Youn Yuh-jung for the matriarch of Lee Isaac Chung’s tender Korean-American family drama “Minari.” The 73-year-old Youn, a well-known actress in her native South Korea, is the first Asian actress to win an Oscar since 1957 and the second in history. She accepted the award from Brad Pitt, an executive producer on “Minari.” “Mr. Brad Pitt, finally,” said Youn. “Nice to meet you.”

Hairstylists Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” became the first Black women to win in makeup and hairstyling. Ann Roth, at 89 one of the oldest Oscar winners ever, also won for the film’s costume design.

The night’s first award went to Emerald Fennell, the writer-director of the provocative revenge thriller “Promising Young Woman,” for best screenplay. Fennell, winning for her feature debut, is the first woman win solo in the category since Diablo Cody (“Juno”) in 2007.

The telecast, produced by a team led by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, moved out of the awards’ usual home, the Dolby Theatre, for Union Station. With Zoom ruled out for nominees, the telecast included satellite feeds from around the world. Performances of the song nominees were pre-taped and aired during the preshow.

Pixar notched its 11th best animated feature Oscar with “Soul,” the studio’s first feature with a Black protagonist. Peter Docter’s film, about a about middle-school music teacher (Jamie Foxx), was one of the few big-budget movies in the running at the Academy Awards. (It also won best score, making Jon Batiste the second Black composer win the award, which he shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.) Another was Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which last September attempted to resuscitate moviegoing during the pandemic. It took best visual effects.

David Fincher’s “Mank,” a lavishly crafted drama of 1940s Hollywood made for Netflix, came in the lead nominee with 10 nods and went home with awards for cinematography and for production design. Netflix led all studios with seven Oscars but again — after close calls with “The Irishman” and “Roma,” again missed out on the top award.

“My Octopus Teacher,” a film that found a passionate following on Netflix, won best documentary. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round” won best international film, an award he dedicated to his daughter, Ida, who in 2019 was killed in a car crash at age 19.

The red carpet was back Sunday, minus the throngs of onlookers and with socially distanced interviews. Casual wear, the academy warned nominees early on, was a no-no. Stars, limited to a plus-one, went without their usual battalions of publicists.

But even a good show may not be enough to save the Oscars from an expected ratings slide. Award show ratings have cratered during the pandemic, and this year’s nominees — many of them smaller, lower-budget dramas — won’t come close to the drawing power of past Oscar heavyweights like “Titanic” or “Black Panther.”

Sunday’s pandemic-delayed Oscars bring to a close the longest awards season ever — one that turned the season’s industrial complex of cocktail parties and screenings virtual. Eligibility was extended into February of this year, and for the first time, a theatrical run wasn’t a requirement of nominees. Some films — like “Sound of Metal” — premiered all the way back in September 2019. The biggest ticket-seller of the best picture nominees was “Promising Young Woman,” with $6.4 million in box office.

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For complete coverage of this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards