President Obama to meet with affected families in San Bernardino

White House officials say the president plans to use his State of the Union speech to discuss long-term priorities, not legislative priorities.

Obama was to stop in California en route to Hawaii on Friday for his annual holiday getaway.

The meeting in Southern California is set for Friday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will meet with families of the victims while in San Bernardino. The couple was killed during a subsequent shootout with police.

Authorities identified the shooters as American-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, of Pakistan. The visit was slotted into Obama’s West Coast fundraising tour.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the November 13 attack in Paris that killed 130 people. He has no plans for any public appearances while in California.

Obama is scheduled to return to the White House on January 4 to start his a year ago in office.

The attack has made Americans increasingly nervous about their security. Malik came to the U.S.in 2014 on a K-1, or fiancee visa.

Obama has vowed to call for new gun-control measures after every mass shooting.

Yet Obama and his team fully understand they are likely to run into fierce resistance on Capitol Hill to any administrative attempts to tighten gun restrictions, rather than work through a GOP-controlled Congress – a hot-button maneuver the White House legal staff is now assessing.

Mr. Obama later said the day of the shooting was the toughest day of his presidency.