2014 State of the Union address to Congress, plus the Republican Response: Jan. 28, 2014

President Obama delivered the State of the Union address, telling numerous tales of ObamaCare, and assigning Joe Biden a new task. The mainstream media focused on how Obama promised, on several issues, to bypass Congress and implement new policy by Executive Order.

The Republican response was marked by numerous separate responses this year:

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     Green Party: Answers to wealth inequality are out there; ask the people.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Deficits cut in half, but still higher than 2008.

Civil Rights     Mike Lee: Equality means giving citizens the right to define marriage.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Gender wage gap is $0.19, not $0.23.

Corporations     Green Party: Focus on declining deficits only benefits the wealthy.     Green Party: Citizenship means standing up to corporate-dominated system.     Barack Obama: Bailout deal: CAFE for trucks as well as cars.     Rand Paul: Most small businesses fail, & government often picks wrong.

Crime     Mike Pence: I support the death penalty; justice demands it.     Mike Lee: Keep violent predators behind bars, not nonviolent offenders.

Drugs     Mike Pence: I don't support legalization of marijuana.     Green Party: Nation is waking up to the end of the war on marijuana.

Education     Barack Obama: Race to the Top for our youngest: pre-K available to all.

Energy & Oil     Green Party: Natural gas does not result in climate justice.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, US reduced CO2 tonnage, but that's only 6%.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, more domestic oil, but due to new technology.     Barack Obama: Natural gas is a "bridge fuel"; then go solar.     Barack Obama: Debate is settled: climate change is a fact.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: FactCheck: Natural gas lowered CO2 only temporarily.     Roy Blunt: Every GOP Senator wants Keystong XL pipeline.

Families & Children     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Genius of America is in your homes, not in the Capitol.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Focus on things that Downs' kids CAN do.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Genius of America is in your homes, not in the Capitol.     Mike Lee: End hidden double-tax imposed on working parents.     Barack Obama: Let's Move partnership: reduce childhood obesity.

Foreign Policy     Green Party: US routinely ignores UN action toward nuclear disarmament.     Barack Obama: Negotiations with Iran don't rely on trust.     Barack Obama: Double access to electricity in Africa.

Free Trade     Green Party: Trans-Pacific Partnership widens the wealth divide.     Barack Obama: Export more goods stamped "Made in the USA".     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: FactCheck: US #1 for FDI, but #14 or #22 on other measures.

Government Reform     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Grow the middle class, not the government.     Barack Obama: No one should wait more than a half-hour to vote.     Ted Cruz: Obama dishonors Constitution by bypassing Congress.     Ted Cruz: Obama's executive orders is open door for future lawlessness.     Roy Blunt: Executive Orders bypass Congress and the Constitution.     Roy Blunt: More government creates inequality crisis of opportunity.

Gun Control     Barack Obama: Stricter gun rules, with or without Congress.

Health Care     Green Party: ObamaCare focuses on just selling more insurance.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Some Medicare premiums went up under ObamaCare.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, 9M signed up, but only 3M are newly insured.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Don't go back to way things were,but ObamaCare isn't working.     Mike Lee: ObamaCare gives far too much power to government.     Barack Obama: 12 million covered; zero denied for pre-existing conditions.     Steve Beshear: OpEd: Like a man possessed in getting people covered.     Ted Cruz: Obama changed ObamaCare mandate deadline by a blog post.     Ted Cruz: Obama asked companies to disobey ObamaCare rules for a year.

Homeland Security     Green Party: Promise to close Guantanamo has no real plan to achieve it.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: FactCheck: Iran's nuke program is set back, but not "halted".

Immigration     Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: GOP offers Hispanic immigrants opportunities like mine.

Jobs     Green Party: America's 25+ million jobless is intolerable.     Green Party: $10.10 federal contractor minimum wage still not living wage.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: $10.10 minimum wage only affects 200,000 workers.     Barack Obama: New ladder of opportunity into the middle class.     Barack Obama: Federal contracts require minimum wage of $10.10 per hour.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, 8M new jobs, but net 1.2M lost in recession.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: FactCheck: Net gain of 3.2M jobs under Obama presidency.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: FactCheck: Workforce participation decline due to Baby Boom.     Joe Biden: Match ready-to-work trainees with ready-to-be-filled jobs.     Ted Cruz: Raising minimum wage by executive fiat opposes rule of law.

Principles & Values     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Obama promises sound good but won't solve nation's problems.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Obama promises sound good but won't solve nation's problems.     Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Obama promises sound good but won't solve nation's problems.     Barack Obama: Opportunity is who we are: let's restore that promise.

Social Security     Green Party: ObamaCare sets precedent for market-based social insurance.     Barack Obama: MyRA: new savings bond for retirement.

Tax Reform     Rand Paul: Economic growth comes when we lower taxes for everyone.

Technology     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Money stops infrastructure projects, not red tape.     Barack Obama: Patent reform: Unleash the next great discovery.

War & Peace     Green Party: Diplomatic solution for Syria, not dismemberment of Syria.     Green Party: Negotiate on Iranian nukes; but negotiate on US nukes too.     Barack Obama: Support rebels in Syria who oppose terrorism.     Barack Obama: America must move off a permanent war footing.

Welfare & Poverty     Green Party: Homeless Bill of Rights to address affordable housing crisis.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Upward mobility hasn't stalled; US always was low.     Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Focus on opportunity gap instead of income-inequality gap.     Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Focus on opportunity gap instead of income-inequality gap.     Mike Lee: Poverty comes from cronyist privilege at the top.     Barack Obama: Earned Income Tax Credit has helped half of all families.     Marco Rubio: EITC isn't enough for single workers who don't have kids.     Rand Paul: Strong safety net, but one that doesn't suffocate us.     Roy Blunt: Obama's "Year of Action" on poverty is "more of the same".

Click for quotations from other sources by: Barack Obama Cathy McMorris-Rodgers Green Party Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Joe Biden Marco Rubio Mike Lee Mike Pence Rand Paul Roy Blunt Steve Beshear Ted Cruz