2013 State of the Union Address
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The 2013 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
,
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
, on February 12, 2013, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
to the
113th United States Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...
. It was Obama's fourth
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
and his fifth speech to a
joint session of the United States Congress A joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions can be held on a ...
. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, John Boehner, accompanied by Joe Biden, the
vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
, in his capacity as the president of the Senate. It was simulcast online by the White House website as an "enhanced version" with accompanying graphics for key points of the address.


Seating and guests

Continuing with the tradition started in 2011, members of the
113th United States Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...
sat together regardless of which party they were affiliated with.


Guests

*
John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Part ...
, governor of
Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
(invited by Michelle Obama) *
Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who has been the chief executive officer of Apple Inc. since 2011. Cook previously served as the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs ...
, CEO of Apple, Inc. (invited by Michelle Obama) * Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
, commonly referred to as the "Mohawk Guy" (invited by Michelle Obama) * Former Representative
Gabby Giffords Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...
and her husband former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly (invited by Representative Ron Barber and Senator John McCain, respectively) * Tracey Hepner, wife of the first openly gay U.S. military general, Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith, and founder of Military Partners and Families Coalition (invited by Michelle Obama) * Pat Llodra, Newtown, Connecticut first selectwoman, and Detectives Dan McAnaspie and Jason Frank (invited by Sens.
Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
and Chris Murphy of Connecticut) *
Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...
(invited by Rep. Steve Stockman) * Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and Nathaniel A. Pendleton Sr., the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a participant in the 2013 Inaugural Parade who was later shot and killed in Chicago (invited by Michelle Obama) * Kaitlin Roig, a first-grade teacher who protected 14 students during the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
in December 2012 (invited by Michelle Obama) Clinton Romesha, recipient of the Medal of Honor was invited by Michelle Obama, but declined so as to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife and friends.


Designated survivor

The
designated survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a named individual in the presidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such as State of the Union addresses and pre ...
is the member of the president's cabinet who does not attend the address in case of a catastrophic event, in order to maintain a
continuity of government Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a catastrophic event such as nuclear war. COG was developed by the British government befo ...
. The designated survivor for the 2013 State of the Union Address was
United States Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...
Steven Chu.


Topics

Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address was, in the words of CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand, "a companion to the ideological offensive in his inauguration speech." The New York Times added: "Obama did not match the lofty tone of his inauguration speech, but the address was clearly intended to be its workmanlike companion. In place of his ringing call for a more equitable society was a package of proposals that constitute a blueprint for the remainder of his presidency. Some would require legislation; others merely an executive order." The speech was dominated by domestic issues such as debt & deficit reduction, infrastructure measures, the economy and need to reinvigorate the middle class, gun control, minimum wage, early education and immigration. Obama declared "Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger." But despite this Obama noted that it is now his generation's task to "reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth — a rising, thriving middle class." “Every day,” he said, “we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills to get those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?”“We gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded,” Obama said early in his remarks explaining the rationale behind his middle class agenda. “Our economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can’t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged." During his speech Obama called on Congress to hike the minimum wage to $9 an hour, proposed the addition of three more urban manufacturing hubs and asked Congress "to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here in America." He also called on Congress to invest $50 billion on rebuilding roads and bridges and announced a bipartisan commission to improve the voting system. The bipartisan commission has the task to investigate voting irregularities that led to long lines at polling sites in the November 2012 election. Studies indicate that these lines cost Democrats hundreds of thousands of votes. The commission will be led by the chief counsel of the Obama presidential campaign, Robert Bauer, and a legal adviser to Mitt Romney’s campaign, Ben Ginsberg. Obama proposed universal preschool for 4-year-olds and linking some federal grant decisions to research schools on their ability to keep tuition costs in check. And he urged Congress to put his full gun control agenda (i.e. background checks in all gun sales, the prevention of anyone buying guns for resale to criminals, a ban on semi-automatic weapons that mimic military weapons, and limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds) up for a vote. "Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they're tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned. Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. They deserve – they deserve a simple vote." Obama used the line "They deserve a vote" four more times than in the prepared remarks in effort to create empathy. The U.S. president proposed to Congress to make high-quality preschool available to every child, provide tax credits for businesses to hire and invest, promote more scientific research and development, further shift cars and trucks away from gasoline, and invest in infrastructure. Obama called for "modest" reforms to Medicare in his speech, continued his push for Congress to act on immigration reform and proposed a paycheck fairness act intended to make it easier for women to fight salary discrimination without losing their jobs, the development of new alternative energy hubs in the country, and to help people refinance their mortgages at today's lower interest rates. With respect to Medicare he argued that the United States can't just cut its way to prosperity. On climate change, Obama promised executive action if Congress failed to address what he called a litany of evidence that the nation and the world face such as more frequent and powerful storms, wildfires and drought: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will," he said. "I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the
consequences of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...
, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy." Obama thus advocated a transition to more sustainable and environment-friendly sources of energy, such as wind and solar, in order to reduce America's dependence on oil. Obama also proposed the creation of an Energy Security Trust dedicated to shifting the country's cars and trucks off oil. "We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it's too late." "It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead," the president said. "It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few." Obama said that deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. "A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs – that must be the North Star that guides our efforts." Obama's State of the Union address included a call to "set party interests aside, and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future." "And let's do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors," he continued to applause, mainly from Democrats. "The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. We can't do it. Let's agree, right here, right now, to keep the people's government open, and pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America." "Nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime." Obama said. "It's not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth." On foreign policy Obama announced in the context of the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan The United States has conducted two withdrawals of United States troops from Afghanistan: *Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan (2011–2016), draw down of United States Armed Forces in the Afghanistan war *Withdrawal of United State ...
that he would bring home half of all U.S. troops by February 2013 and end the war there the following year. Barack Obama called for a
free trade agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occ ...
between the United States and the European Union and announced his intent to complete negotiations on a "Trans-Pacific partnership". He also addressed drone oversight, the 2013 North Korean nuclear test,
Iran's nuclear program The nuclear program of Iran is an ongoing scientific effort by Iran to research nuclear technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran has several research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor, and uranium processing facili ...
and the Middle East in the context of the Syrian Civil War. Obama warned the North Korea's reclusive government that it faced further isolation, swift retaliation and a United States bent on improving its own missile defense systems. He spoke about the reduction of nuclear stockpiles in cooperation with Russia: "We'll engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands." "In defense of freedom, we'll remain the anchor of strong alliances, from the Americas to Africa, from Europe to Asia. In the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights, and support stable transitions to democracy." Obama called for lawmakers to work together to be more effective by successfully solving problems regardless of party divisions: "The American people don't expect government to solve every problem. They don't expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation's interests before party." Obama closed his speech with a reference to his second inaugural address ending by saying that all Americans share the same title: "We are citizens. It's a word that doesn't just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we're made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story."


Responses

Senator Marco Rubio a Republican of
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, delivered the official Republican response to the 2013 State of the Union Address. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul delivered the Tea Party's rebuttal to Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address. The BBC reported reactions from US newspapers such as the ''New York Times'' and the ''Washington Post''. Additional reactions from US newspapers was gathered by the website al.com. The official Libertarian response was given by
Carla Howell Carla Howell (born 1955) is an American politician, small government advocate and activist. She was the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor in 1998, U.S. Senate in 2000, and Governor in 2002. She then serv ...
, the Executive Director of the
Libertarian National Committee The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) controls and manages the affairs, properties, and funds of the United States Libertarian Party. It is composed of the party officers, five at-large representatives elected every two years at the national ...
. The official
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
response was given by
Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...
, the party's 2012 presidential candidate.


References


External links


2013 State of the Union enhanced video

High Definition Video Download
(Public Domain) *


2013 State of the Union Response (video) at C-SPAN

2013 State of the Union Response (transcript)
{{Portal bar, Modern history, United States, Politics State of the Union Address 2013
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...
Presidency of Barack Obama State of the Union Address 2014
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
State of the Union Address, 2013 Articles containing video clips