2016 State of the Union Address

The 2016 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 12, 2016, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 114th United States Congress. It was Obama's seventh and final State of the Union Address and his eighth and final speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Paul Ryan, accompanied by Joe Biden, the vice president, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.

In an effort to expand on the presidential administration's use of the Internet to reach American citizens, the 2016 State of the Union Address broadcasts live on the White House website, as well as on the White House YouTube channel.

Senate President pro tempore Orrin Hatch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson were the designated survivors for the 2016 address.

The Address was watched by 31.3 million viewers.

The President opened the speech by welcoming the Speaker, Vice President, Members of Congress, and fellow Americans. He noted that this was his eighth speech, and promised it would be shorter than usual, joking that he knew "some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa." He recognized people's generally low expectations for meaningful legislation due to 2016 being an election year, and thanked the House Speaker Paul Ryan for his help passing the budget and making tax cuts permanent for working families. He expressed hope that progress could be made on "bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse."

He then listed proposals for the year ahead, per tradition. They included helping students learn to write computer code, personalizing medical treatments for patients, fixing the immigration system he called broken, protecting US children from gun violence, achieving equal pay for equal work in a nod towards gender equality, implementing paid leave, and raising the minimum wage.

He then took a longer term approach and said he wanted focus on "the next five years, ten years, and beyond." He recognized that the country was in a time of technological change that was having a big impact on people's lives and the planet. The benefits technology brings to medical science and improving education for remote students were contrasted with the strain disruptive technologies place on working families, and the benefits terrorists gain from access to communication technologies. He called on America to overcome these fears and face the future with optimism. He also highlighted America's diversity, strong work ethic, and commitment to rule of law as things necessary to ensure prosperity and security. He stressed that these traits are what got the country through the recent economic crisis, and what led to affordable health care, the resurgence of the US energy sector, greater benefits for troops and veterans and the legal acceptance of Gay marriage.

He then listed what he called four big questions the country has to answer: