--- description: As prepared for delivery. title: Read the Full Transcript of Obama's Final State of the Union image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f6a4f5dc8b6836/698878e3524fc0191edf6452/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [state of the union](/tag/state-of-the-union/) ## state of the union Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read the Full Transcript of Obama's Final State of the Union by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 13, 2016 1:57 AM CUT  U.S. President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union speech before members of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 12, 2016 in Washington. U.S. President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union speech before members of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 12, 2016 in Washington.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 13, 2016 1:57 AM CUT President Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday. This is a full transcript of his remarks, as prepared for delivery. --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/"},"headline":"Read the Full Transcript of Obama's Final State of the Union","datePublished":"2016-01-13T01:57:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:04:14.754Z","description":"As prepared for delivery.","url":"https://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/","keywords":["state of the union","Barack Obama","Obama","State of the Union 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f6a4f5dc8b6836/698878e3524fc0191edf6452/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f6a4f5dc8b6836/698878e3524fc0191edf6452/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Delivers His Last State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"U.S. President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union speech before members of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 12, 2016 in Washington.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union/","name":"state of the union"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/","name":"Read the Full Transcript of Obama's Final State of the Union"}}]}] ```