US President Delivers State of Union Speech, Sets Ambitious Goals

World | January 21, 2015, Wednesday // 12:04
Bulgaria: US President Delivers State of Union Speech, Sets Ambitious Goals US President Barack Obama delivers the State of The Union address before a joint session of Congress on the floor of the US House of Representatives in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2015. Photo: EPA

US President Barack Obama delivered on Tuesday his sixth State of the Union speech at a joint session of Congress, in which he set out an ambitious agenda.

Obama gave account of the country's improving economy and called on his Republican rivals to support reforms aimed at improving the conditions of the middle class, the New York Times reports.

The US President urged Congress to make community college free for most students and introduce more generous government assistance for education, child care and retirement.

Another measure aimed at ameliorating the conditions of the middle class would include the levy of new taxes on people with higher incomes and large financial institutions.

Obama assured that he is to continue conducting a foreign policy which combines military power and diplomacy.

He called on the legislature to lift the trade embargo on Cuba and to approve legislation, which will authorise the fight against Islamic State (IS).

Obama addressed Congress hours after he had threatened to veto Republican legislation that aims to restrict abortion and speed the approval of natural gas pipelines.

The US President did not mention anything on the considerable losses his Democratic Party has suffered in the congressional elections last autumn.

He assured that any attempts to revise his health care law, the Wall Street regulations or his executive actions on immigration will meet his veto.

Obama expressed the opinion that the Republican economic agenda was not as ambitious as his own.

Thus he made an attempt to clarify the differences between the two main parties in view of the forthcoming presidential elections in 2016.

The US President boasted of the economic improvements under his administration, which include job growth, falling deficit and slowing of the growth of health care costs.

Obama identified several possible areas of cooperation with his rivals, such as approval of business tax overhaul, granting of authority to sign trade deals and repair of damaged road infrastructure.

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Tags: US, Barack Obama, State of the Union, Congress, economy, middle class, education, college, child care, Retirement, tax, Cuba, trade embargo, IS, abortion, health care, wall street, immigration

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