Obama State of the Union Address 2015 tonight: start time TV channel

By Will Stabley | January 21, 2015

President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union address of 2015 tonight, entering the House of Representatives chamber to address both houses of Congress on his plans for the upcoming year while taking his message to the American people. Obama is entering the final two years of this Presidency, or as his administration has taken to calling it, the “Fourth quarter.” The speech will consist of equal parts financial, social, and foreign policy and will touch on a number of topics. Here’s a preview of the State of the Union address, along with start time and TV channel info for those looking to tune in live.

One of the key initiatives introduced by President Obama in his State of the Union address tonight will be a tax cut for most or all working class Americans, which will be paid for by closing tax loopholes on the wealthy. The shift will be revenue-neutral, meaning it will have no effect on the budget or deficit one way or the other. Obama will make the argument that too much of the nation’s revenue, and indeed the world’s revenue has been shifted into the hands of the ultra-wealthy by the rise of megacorporations, and he can be expected to site the recent Oxfam study which predicts that by 2016, the wealthiest one percent of the population will possess more than fifty percent of the wealth.

Most or all republicans in Congress will immediately oppose the Obama initiative, arguing that allowing the wealthy to continue to pay lower tax rates than the working class is vital to growing the economy. However, that theory has long been debunked by economists, with historical data showing that tax breaks for the wealthy have consistently done nothing to boost the economy. Republicans control both houses of Congress, but Obama will attempt to get a majority of the American people to voice support for his tax initiative, which could place pressure on Congress to pass the legislation.

Republicans in Congress did quietly support Obama’s tax hike for the wealthiest two percent of Americans earlier in the Obama Presidency, which restored their tax rates to what they had been during the Bill Clinton era; Obama’s increased tax rates for the wealthy has helped reduce the annual federal budget deficit to less than half what it was when Obama first inherited it, and Obama’s insistence on not raising taxes on the middle class has been credited for his ability to turn the economy around to the point that private sector job growth has taken place for 58 consecutive months. However, the Republican Party has made clear that its agenda for the next two years will be to oppose any and all Obama initiatives, meaning republicans in congress will have to oppose the tax cuts if they want to stick to their party’s agenda.

Tonight’s State of the Union 2015 address has a start time of 9:00pm eastern time, 6:00pm pacific time. Obama’s speech airs on a variety of TV channels including all four major networks, PBS and CNN among others. The address will also air live online via the White House site.