File photo of US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington. (Associated Press)
The US Congress has invited President Barack Obama to give his State of the Union address on January 20, a constitutional formality that precedes the annual agenda-setting address.
The invitation was expected, although some conservative lawmakers had suggested withholding it as retribution for Obama's recent unilateral action on immigration reform.
House Speaker John Boehner, in his letter to the president, called on him to "fulfill your duty under the Constitution to report on the state of the union and recommend measures for our consideration."
The speech to both chambers of Congress gives Obama a chance not only to review the conditions of the US economy but to lay out his domestic and foreign policy goals for his seventh year in office.
Set for 9:00 pm on a Tuesday night, the address will be the first for Obama to a Congress under full Republican control, after his opponents swept to victory in November congressional elections.
He is expected to cite a series of positive economic developments of recent months that has seen the unemployment rate dip to a six-year low and the Federal Reserve raise its 2014 growth forecast.
He will also likely address normalizing ties with Cuba, his controversial plan to shield millions of immigrants from deportation and efforts to defeat the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria.