I am hopeful that the president will work with us and leave office with a record of achievement and not partisanship, and I'm confident that we can do the work the American people expect of us. But tonight is not about the president or really any Member of Congress.
Tonight is, after all, about the condition of our country.
And it is, for that reason, a night that should be about the work taking place, not in Washington, but in communities across America. From Maine to California, individual men and women have built our great prosperity. They have created the new businesses and opportunities that are everywhere around us. To ensure that this prosperity reaches every family, we will make certain Washington does not get in the way. Tonight the President has asked for dozens of new programs that will cost billions of dollars in their first year, and once again he has done so without specifying how he intends to pay for them.