Obama Urges Action on Expansive Agenda667 comments

Watch Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union full speech.

WASHINGTON�President Barack Obama outlined an ambitious agenda in his State of the Union address Tuesday that included raising the minimum wage, increasing spending on infrastructure, attacking climate change and passing gun-control legislation.

Mr. Obama repeated his earlier calls for reducing the budget deficit through a mix of tax increases and spending cuts. He also said he would support "modest reforms" in programs including Medicare, as long as wealthy Americans contribute as well. And he said he would reduce troop levels in Afghanistan by half over the next year, an acceleration of the U.S. departure and an effort to wind down America's longest war.

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President Obama laid out his agenda on spending, climate change and guns in the State of the Union speech.

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Read WSJ reporters' comments on President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

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In a speech largely focused on the economy, the president's rollout of his second-term agenda included many proposals aimed at helping low-income Americans advance. He urged Congress to work with states to provide "high quality'' preschool to all low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds, and he proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour, up from $7.25 today.

"It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation,'' Mr. Obama said.