Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, February 2009 Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, February 2009 The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, gave his first public address before a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. Similar to a State of the Union address, it was delivered before the 111th United States Congress in the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. Presiding over this joint session was the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Accompanying the Speaker of the House was the President of the United States Senate, Joe Biden, the Vice President
Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Nobel Prize–winning scientist Steven Chu was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 20, 2009. On January 21, 2009, Chu was sworn in as Secretary of Energy in the Barack Obama administration. Chu is the first person appointed to the Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize. He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the Cabinet after Elaine Chao. On February 1, 2013, Secretary Chu announced his resignation pending the confirmation of a successor. On March 4, 2013 President Obama announced he was nominating Ernest Moniz as