In a highly anticipated speech in front of Congress on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama laid down his plan to fix the struggling economy, addressed the question of inequality in the country, highlighted his accomplishments thus far and took his first step toward setting the pace for his re-election bid.

Prior to the speech, the night was highlighted by a round of applause for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is resigning from the House of Representatives to focus on her recovery from a shooting last January. After the emotional Giffords introduction, the Supreme Court justices and the executive cabinet took their seats to await the president’s arrival.

At 8:05 p.m., the sergeant at arms of the Senate introduced Obama to Congress, and the president made his way into the chamber to address the assembly, meeting and greeting with attendees along the way. After making his way to the podium, Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, introduced Obama and he began his speech.

“Most of al-Qaida’s top lieutenants have been defeated,” Obama said. “This is a testament to our armed forces … Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example.”

He went on to outline his hopes for a better economy.

“What’s at stake is not our democratic values or our republican values, but our American values,” Obama said. “But in the last 22 months, businesses created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005 … Together we have agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. The state of our union is getting stronger.”

Going off this, Obama signaled he was not willing to go back to the same policies that led to the recession and wanted to establish an economy that is “built to last.” He said manufacturing was key to this goal.

“Tonight, the American auto industry is back,” Obama said. “What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries … We have a huge opportunity at this moment to bring manufacturing back, but we have to seize it.”

Obama went on to lay out his plan for reforming the tax code for businesses. He said companies should not be able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, especially when they outsource jobs to other countries. Reflexively, American companies who keep jobs here should receive new tax credits.

“My message is that it is time to stop rewarding companies who create jobs right here in America,” Obama said. “I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products.”

The issue of unemployment reform was also addressed when the president described new policies that he said would turn “unemployment” into “re-employment,” including education reforms for teachers by which tougher measures would be taken to weed out bad teachers and help students succeed. He also introduced an idea to eliminate high school dropouts by making students stay in school until they were 18 years old and address college debt through state-led action and less federal funding for colleges who cannot stop the rapid increase of tuition.

Obama then touched on immigration reform, in which he urged Congress to present him a bill that could pave a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants. Energy was also addressed.

“Oil isn’t enough. This country needs a strategy that develops every available source of American energy,” Obama said. “A strategy that is cleaner, cheaper and full of new jobs … I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.”

Later, he seized on the drawdown of troops from Iraq and the savings it provides to urge Congress to put half of it toward debt reduction and the other half to reinvesting in infrastructure. He also focused on regulation to prevent financial fraud and protect the free market.

“No bailouts, no handouts and no copouts,” Obama said. “I will not back down … The rest of us are not bailing you out ever again.”

Obama also called for a special task force to be established to investigate financial fraud and ensure a return to “American values,” in addition to tax reforms for the wealthiest Americans and ethics controls for Congress.

“We should all want a smarter, more effective federal government,” Obama said. “With or without this Congress, I will keep taking actions to help this economy get better.”

Obama then changed subjects to focus on foreign policy. He promised continued ties with Afghanistan, hopes for an overthrow of the Assad government in Syria, a stronger approach toward dealing with a potentially nuclear Iran and closer ties with Israel. Following this, he promised increased spending for veterans and tax credits to employers who hire veterans, right before concluding his speech after a little more than an hour.

“This nation is great because we get each other’s back,” Obama said. “There is no mission too great, no mission too hard … as long as we remain strong.”