WASHINGTON — Anyone who has closely followed President Barack Obama since 2015 opened might wonder what he has left to say when he delivers the annual State of the Union address.

In a bid to generate excitement for the agenda-setting speech, Obama broke with tradition this month and began unveiling proposals from the address before he formally announces them to a joint session of Congress and a nationally televised audience. Those details usually remain closely held until the day of the speech.

Viewers may already have heard about his proposals to boost homeownership, pay for two years of community college and increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

This year is also the first time Obama will give the speech before a Congress that’s completely controlled by Republicans.

Some questions and answers about the State of the Union:

QUESTION: Why is the president giving the speech?

ANSWER: The Constitution requires that the president “from time to time give the Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

QUESTION: Who delivered the first address?

ANSWER: George Washington on Jan. 8, 1790 in New York.

QUESTION: Must it be a speech?

ANSWER: No. Thomas Jefferson changed the custom with his first annual message on Dec. 8, 1801, by sending written copies to both houses of Congress to be read by clerks of each chamber. Jefferson wanted to simplify what he believed to be an aristocratic imitation of the British monarch’s speech from the throne, which he thought was unsuitable to a republic. The practice of sending Congress written copies of the speech continued for more than a century.

QUESTION: Who resumed delivering the annual message in person?

ANSWER: Woodrow Wilson, on April 8, 1913. Wilson also is widely credited with transforming the speech from a report on the activities of the executive branch into a blueprint for the president’s legislative program for the coming congressional session and year.

QUESTION: When did the annual message become known as the “State of the Union” address?

ANSWER: Franklin D. Roosevelt applied the constitutional phrase “State of the Union” to both the message and the event. It became the popular terminology from then on.

QUESTION: Has the speech ever been postponed?

ANSWER: Ronald Reagan’s 1986 address was postponed after the Challenger space shuttle exploded in flight on Jan. 28 of that year.

QUESTION: Is there a State of the Union speech every year?

ANSWER: No. Each of the past five presidents — Reagan in 1981, George H.W. Bush in 1989, Bill Clinton in 1993, George W. Bush in 2001 and Obama in 2009 — chose not to give an official State of the Union address their first year in office. That speech would have followed shortly after their inaugural addresses.