WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will answer ordinary people's questions live on YouTube two days after his State of the Union address, the White House says.

The question-and-answer session, beginning at 2:30 p.m. EST Thursday, will cap a weeklong new-media campaign that also includes administration officials live on the Facebook social-networking site and the Twitter microblogging service, the White House said.

The State of the Union speech, which last year had 48 million TV viewers, will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov at 9 p.m. Tuesday, the White House said.

Immediately afterward, several White House officials will take questions on Facebook and Twitter, as well as WhiteHouse.gov. They include National Economic Council Deputy Director Brian Deese, education policy presidential assistant Roberto Rodriguez, senior adviser aide David Simas and strategic communications Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, the White House said.

The online chats will happen during the GOP State of the Union response by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Ryan's address, from the House Budget Committee's hearing room, where legislative oversight of the federal budget process takes place, will also be available online.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs will take State of the Union questions on Twitter Wednesday.

The White House will sponsor online "policy roundtables" Thursday to discuss the economy, foreign policy, education and healthcare. These will be in addition to the Obama Q-and-A.

The economy roundtable will be hosted by Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee, foreign policy by Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, education by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and healthcare by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the White House said.

Vice President Joseph Biden will answer questions on Yahoo! but details were not available early Monday.

Obama said in a State of the Union preview posted on YouTube this weekend he planned Tuesday to call for "responsible" deficit reduction, asserting it was critical to U.S. "competitiveness" and long-term job growth to increase "investment" in such fields as education, research and technological innovation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on "Fox News Sunday" Republicans would do everything within their power to stop the spending increases Obama mentioned in the video.

"This is not a time to be looking at pumping up government spending in very many areas," he said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" Republicans would press ahead with the deep spending cuts they promised in the fall campaign, including defense cuts.

"Every dollar should be on the table," he said.