Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is the designated survivor for the 2015 State of the Union address, given by President Barack Obama in front of a joint session of Congress.
The designated survivor is appointed every year to watch the address from a physically distant, secure and undisclosed location, so that if anything should happen to the country’s other top leaders while gathered together for the State of the Union, that person could take over as president.
Last year’s designated survivor was Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.
See more updates from SOTU below:
live blog Oldest Newest Share + Today 5:55 PM ESTMeet The Climate-Researching Mom The Obamas Are Bringing To SOTU HuffPost’s Kate Sheppard reports:
WASHINGTON — Among the guests of first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday’s State of the Union address is a Florida-based climate researcher and activist.
Miami native Nicole Hernandez Hammer, described by the White House as a “mother and sea level rise researcher,” will watch as President Barack Obama gives his sixth such address.
Hernandez Hammer, 39, said she got the call last Tuesday inviting her to Washington for the address. “I had never imagined anything like that,” she told The Huffington Post on Tuesday before the speech. “It was hard to believe it was going to happen.”
Read the full story here.
Here’s HuffPost’s State of the Union drinking game, so you can play along as you watch the president’s speech.
Anthony Mendez knows a thing or two about defeating the odds.
The 19-year-old’s best friend was shot and killed during a neighborhood feud in 2011. A year later, Mendez’s family was evicted from their home in the Bronx and forced to live in a shelter for the next six months.
And on Jan. 20, he’ll be first lady Michelle Obama’s guest at the State of the Union, according to USA Today.
Read the full story here.
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— Connie Britton (@conniebritton) January 20, 2015
The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake reports on an ad running in the Washington area during Obama’s speech that likens “climate change deniers to other science deniers who turned out to be very wrong.” Read about it here.
Sneak peek at my prep for tonight’s Republican Address following #SOTU pic.twitter.com/kF8a9IVfR4
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) January 20, 2015
HuffPost is interviewing Obama administration officials immediately after the president’s annual State of the Union address on Tuesday.
For more information, go here.
The AP reports:
Key elements of the economic proposals President Barack Obama will outline in his State of the Union address Tuesday appear to be aimed at driving the debate in the 2016 election on income inequality and middle-class economic issues, rather than setting a realistic agenda for Congress.
Obama’s calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy, making community college free for many students and expanding paid leave for workers stand little chance of winning approval from the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill. But the debate over middle-class economics is looking critical for the coming campaign.
Read more here.
Yahoo’s Meredith Shiner reports:
It may only draw half the viewers it once did, but for staffers at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday night’s annual State of the Union address by the president is their Super Bowl.
Read more here.
Check back here for updates on Obama’s annual speech.
