Obama Said to Push Congress to Curb Debt, Boost Competitiveness

President Barack Obama plans to mark the beginning of a politically divided Congress with a State of the Union speech stressing shared responsibility for reining in the deficit and boosting the country’s capacity to compete with foreign economic rivals, according to two Democratic officials.

Obama will seek to use the nationally televised Jan. 25 address to pivot from the response to the financial crisis that occupied much of the first two years of his presidency to a vision of how to meet longer-range economic challenges, the White House has told congressional allies.