5 Things You Need to Know From Obama's State of The Union Address

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U.S. President Barack Obama delivers the State of Union address on Jan. 28, 2014.

Image: AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool/Associated Press

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-01-29 04:59:17 UTC

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill Tuesday night.

Here, we've rounded up the five most important things Obama mentioned in his speech.

See also: What Would YOU Ask Barack Obama?

1. More Executive Decisions

After facing a Congress so deadlocked that it forced a shutdown, Obama declared 2014 a "year of action," during which he will make executive decisions without the need to wait for Congress legislations.

"Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do," he said.

Obama's first steps in this direction is an executive order to raise the minimum wage of federal workers to $10.10. The president also urged Congress to join in, and raise the minimum wage for all workers, following his example and the one set by the five states that have already done so.

"Give America a raise," he said.

2. Push for Social Reform

Perhaps more than in any other State of the Union Address before, Obama made a clear commitment to a series of social reforms aimed at reducing inequality, both between the rich and the poor, as well as between men and women.

Supporting the principle that men and women should be paid equally for doing the same work — without actually endorsing specific policies to achieve that goal — Obama said, "It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode."

"Let’s all come together ... to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. Because I firmly believe when women succeed, America succeeds," he added.

In addition to pushing for a higher minimum wage, to fight economic inequality, Obama announced the creation of a new retirement-savings plan called "myRA" that will be available through employers, but backed by the U.S. government.

The president again stressed the importance of fixing America's "broken immigration system," which he aims to address by the end of this year.

3. Climate Change and New Energy Resources

"Climate change is a fact," Obama said. "And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say, 'Yes, we did.'"

Once again, Obama stressed the importance of fighting climate change, and moving toward a future with more renewable energy, including solar power. He also proposed cutting tax breaks that give $4 billion to "fossil-fuel industries," and instead invest more "in fuels of the future," as well as setting new fuel-efficiency standards for trucks.

4. The Future Depends on Education

Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden will lead a sweeping reform of America's training programs to improve training on the job, and to create more apprenticeship programs. Obama also pushed to "redesign" high school, and give kids a more modern education — words that echoed last year's call for more tech-focused high schools.

With that goal in mind, Obama announced that the U.S. administration, with the support of the Federal Communications Commission, will provide a "major" down payment to connect 15,000 schools and 20 million students to high-speed broadband over the next two years. The initiative will be part of Obama's ConnectED program, which launched last year.

Obama added that tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon will contribute to this effort with new "philanthropic partnerships" to be announced in the next few weeks, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House to reporters.

5. Technology and Innovation

Like last year when he mentioned Apple and 3D printing, Obama underlined the importance of technology, innovation and scientific research.

"Federally funded research helped lead to the ideas and inventions behind Google and smartphones," he said.

With that goal in mind, Obama announced the creation of six new high-tech hubs across the country, apart from the ones that already launched in Raleigh, N.C., and Youngstown, Ohio. However, he did not specify where these hubs will be, or what they will specialize in.

Obama also endorsed a strong patent reform to allow "businesses to stay focused on innovation, not costly, needless litigation."

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Topics: Barack Obama, Politics, state of the union, state of the union address, U.S., US & World