The President: Thank you.

Alright.

Let's bring this to order.

Paul Ryan: Members of Congress.

I have the high privilege, and the distinct honor of

presenting to you the President

of the United States.

(applause)

The President: Thank you very much.

Everybody, please have a seat.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President,

Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

Tonight marks the eighth year I've come here to

report on the State of the Union.

And for this final one, I'm going to try to make

it shorter.

(applause)

I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa.

(laughter)

I've been there.

I'll be shaking hands afterwards,

if you want some tips.

(laughter)

I also understand that because it's an election

season, expectations for what we'll achieve this year

are low.

Still, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive

approach you and the other leaders took at the end of

last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent

for working families.

So I hope we can work together this year on

bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform,

(applause)

-- and helping people who are battling prescription

drug abuse.

(applause)

So, who knows.

We just might surprise the cynics again.

But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list

of proposals for the year ahead.

Don't worry, I've got plenty,

from helping students learn to write computer code to

personalizing medical treatments for patients.

And I'll keep pushing for progress on the work that

still needs doing.

Fixing a broken immigration system.

(applause)

Protecting our kids from gun violence.

(applause)

Equal pay for equal work,

(applause)

paid leave, raising the minimum wage.

(applause)

All these things still matter to hardworking

families; they are still the right thing to do;

and I will not let up until they get done.

But for my final address to this chamber,

I don't want to talk just about the next year.

I want to focus on the next five years, ten years,

and beyond.

I want to focus on our future.

We live in a time of extraordinary change -

change that's reshaping the way we live,

the way we work, our planet and our place in the world.

It's change that promises amazing medical

breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that

strain working families.

It promises education for girls in the most remote

villages, but also connects terrorists plotting

an ocean away.

It's change that can broaden opportunity,

or widen inequality.

And whether we like it or not,

the pace of this change will only accelerate.

America has been through big changes before - wars and

depression, the influx of immigrants,

workers fighting for a fair deal,

and movements to expand civil rights.

Each time, there have been those who told us to fear

the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on

change, promising to restore past glory if we just got

some group or idea that was threatening America

under control.

And each time, we overcame those fears.

We did not, in the words of Lincoln,

adhere to the "dogmas of the quiet past."

Instead we thought anew, and acted anew.

We made change work for us, always extending America's

promise outward, to the next frontier,

to more and more people.

And because we did - because we saw opportunity where

others saw only peril - we emerged stronger and better

than before.

What was true then can be true now.

Our unique strengths as a nation - our optimism and

work ethic, our spirit of discovery and innovation,

our diversity and commitment to the rule of law - these

things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity

and security for generations to come.

In fact, it's that spirit that made the progress of

these past seven years possible.

It's how we recovered from the worst economic crisis

in generations.

(applause)

It's how we reformed our health care system,

and reinvented our energy sector;

(applause)

-- how we delivered more care and benefits to our

troops and veterans,

(applause)

that's how we secured the freedom in every state to

marry the person we love.

(applause)

But such progress is not inevitable.

It is the result of choices we make together.

And we face such choices right now.

Will we respond to the changes of our time with

fear, turning inward as a nation,

and turning against each other as a people?

Or will we face the future with confidence in who we

are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can

do together?

So let's talk about the future,

and four big questions that we as a country have to

answer - regardless of who the next President is,

or who controls the next Congress.

First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at

opportunity and security in this new economy?

(applause)

Second, how do we make technology work for us,

and not against us - especially when it comes to

solving urgent challenges like climate change?

(applause)

Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the

world without becoming its policeman?

(applause)

And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what's

best in us, and not what's worst?

(applause)

Let me start with the economy,

and a basic fact: the United States of America,

right now, has the strongest,

most durable economy in the world.

(applause)

We're in the middle of the longest streak of

private-sector job creation in history.

(applause)

More than 14 million new jobs;

the strongest two years of job growth since the '90s;

an unemployment rate cut in half.

Our auto industry just had its best year ever.

(applause)

That's just part of a manufacturing surge that has

created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years.

And we've done all this while cutting our deficits

by almost three-quarters.

(applause)

Anyone claiming that America's economy is in

decline is peddling fiction.

(applause)

What is true - and the reason that a lot of

Americans feel anxious - is that the economy has been

changing in profound ways, changes that started long

before the Great Recession hit and haven't let up.

Today, technology doesn't just replace jobs on the

assembly line, but any job where work can be automated.

Companies in a global economy can locate anywhere,

and face tougher competition.

As a result, workers have less leverage for a raise.

Companies have less loyalty to their communities.

And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at

the very top.

All these trends have squeezed workers,

even when they have jobs; even when the economy

is growing.

It's made it harder for a hardworking family to pull

itself out of poverty, harder for young people to

start on their careers, and tougher for workers to

retire when they want to.

And although none of these trends are unique to

America, they do offend our uniquely American belief

that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot.

For the past seven years, our goal has been a growing

economy that works better for everybody.

We've made progress.

But we need to make more.

And despite all the political arguments we've

had these past few years, there are some areas where

Americans broadly agree.

We agree that real opportunity requires every

American to get the education and training they

need to land a good-paying job.

The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an

important start, and together,

we've increased early childhood education,

lifted high school graduation rates to new

highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering.

In the coming years, we should build on that

progress, by providing Pre-K for all,

(applause)

-- offering every student the hands-on computer

science and math classes that make them job-ready on

day one, and we should recruit and support more

great teachers for our kids.

(applause)

And we have to make college affordable for every American.

(applause)

Because no hardworking student should be stuck in

the red.

We've already reduced student loan payments to ten

percent of a borrower's income.

Now, we've actually got to cut the cost of college.

(applause)

Providing two years of community college at no cost

for every responsible student is one of the best

ways to do that, and I'm going to keep fighting to

get that started this year.

(applause)

Of course, a great education isn't all we need in this

new economy.

We also need benefits and protections that provide a

basic measure of security.

After all, it's not much of a stretch to say that some

of the only people in America who are going to

work the same job, in the same place,

with a health and retirement package, for 30 years,

are sitting in this chamber.

(laughter)

For everyone else, especially folks in their

forties and fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing

back from job loss has gotten a lot tougher.

Americans understand that at some point in their careers,

they may have to retool and retrain.

But they shouldn't lose what they've already worked so

hard to build.

That's why Social Security and Medicare are more

important than ever; we shouldn't weaken them,

we should strengthen them.

(applause)

And for Americans short of retirement,

basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything

else is today.

That's what the Affordable Care Act is all about.

It's about filling the gaps in employer-based care so

that when we lose a job, or go back to school,

or start that new business, we'll still have coverage.

Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far.

(applause)

Health care inflation has slowed.

And our businesses have created jobs every single

month since it became law.

Now, I'm guessing we won't agree on health care

anytime soon.

(laughter)

But there should be other ways both parties can work

together to improve economic security.

Say a hardworking American loses his job - we shouldn't

just make sure he can get unemployment insurance;

we should make sure that program encourages him to

retrain for a business that's ready to hire him.