Energy expected to take backseat to gun control during State of the Union Address
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., tonight. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)
Later this evening, President Obama is set to make the 7th State of the Union Address of his presidency. Though the nation’s oil boom has started to attract more attention recently, the gun legislation debate and the wavering economy will most likely dwarf energy discussion in the president’s speech.
In order to aid the president in his goal of banning the sales of semi-automatic weapons, Democratic members of Congress are supporting the president by bringing victims from the Newtown, Connecticut shootings as guests to the event, something that will draw attention and give both a face to the polarized debate.
Yet, with the recent storms that have struck the East Coast, it seems as if the President may take the opportunity to discuss the importance of climate change, though analysts aren’t expecting a repeat of Obama’s January 2012 State of the Union Address, where the POTUS devoted a large portion of his speech to our nation’s shale resources.
“You’re going to like what you hear,” White House aides told Politico, who have pushed the President over the years to toughen his stance on carbon emissions and climate change.
The State of the Union will air live on most major television news networks at 7 p.m. eastern. You can access a transcript of the speech, along with a new Citizen Response tool available on the White House’s website that allows you to interact with the text and share your opinion with the President.