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House Speaker John Boehner invited President Obama today to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

In a letter, Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote the president extending the invitation to come to the Capitol to promote his national priorities and legislative agenda just two weeks before the next set of economic deadlines face Congress.

"Our nation continues to face immense challenges, and the American people expect us to work together in the new year to find meaningful solutions. This will require a willingness to seek common ground as well as presidential leadership," Boehner writes. "For that reason, the Congress and the Nation would welcome an opportunity to hear your plan and specific solutions for addressing America's great challenges."

A senior White House administration official confirmed today that the president has accepted the invitation.

Demand for the event stems from the U.S. Constitution which suggests the president "shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

This will be Obama's fourth State of the Union address. He did not deliver an address in 2009. Traditionally, a newly elected president does not deliver an address in the first year of the first term, although reelected presidents generally follow their second inauguration with a State of the Union address in the subsequent weeks.