2016 State of the Union Address 2016 State of the Union Address The 2016 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 12, 2016, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. It was addressed to the 114th United States Congress. It was the first State of the Union address with Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House of Representatives. It was the last State of the Union Address of Obama's presidency; no U.S. president since Gerald Ford has given a final State of the Union address at the end of his term. Obama's
State of the Union none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the outgoing president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. Since 1989, in recognition that the responsibility of reporting the State of the Union formally belongs to the president who held office during the past year, newly inaugurated Presidents have not officially called their first speech before Congress a "State of the Union" message. In 1936, President Roosevelt set a precedent when he delivered the address at