Speech. Sure, its a thankless task. You end up trying to do something for your political party, and at the same time youll never be able to compete with the symbolism and stature and grandeur that goes into the state of union, and what you say usually gets lost because much of it is written before the president s transcript comes out and in addition you end up with a more memorable moment. Senator rubio, it was his water bottle. It has begun to snow outside in washington b. C. Oh, my. Yes, its coming down hard. You were keeping a time on the speech. How long was it . An hour and six minutes. It was a long one. We are figuring it was less that an hour. It took over an hour. We are about to hear the republican response from Cathy Mcmorris rogers. Lets listen. What an honour it is for me to be with you after the president s state of union. Foont tonight we honour america, a nation that has seen the gratest opportunities we have seen. A nation where we are not defined by our limits, but our participation. And a nation where a girl who worked at the mcdonaldss drive through to pay for college can be with you from the United States capital. But the most important moments right now are not happening here. They are not in the oval office or the house chamber. They are in your homes, kissing your kids goodnight. Figuring out how to pay the bills. Getting ready for tomorrows doctors visit. Waiting to hear from those you love serving in afghanistan, or searching for the big job interview. After all, we, the people, have been the foundation of america since her earliest days. People from all walks of life and all corners of the world. People who come to america because here no challenge is too grate and no dream too big. That is the genius of america. Tonight the president made more promises that sound good, but will not solve the problems facing americans. We want you to have a better life. The president wants that too. But we part ways when it comes to how to make that happen. Tonight id like to share a more hopeful republican village, one that empowers you, not the government. Empowering people to make their own decisions, not the government to do it for you. It helps people rise above the limits of posterity and protect the most vulnerable, and one where washington plays by the same rules as you do. Its a vision that is fair and offers the same future for every american. If you would have told me as a little girl that i would one day put my hand on the bible and be sworn in as the 20th woman in the house of representatives, i wouldnt think it would be possible. I grew up and picked apples before school. Dad drove a school bus and mum was a parttimebook keeper. They thought me to work hard, help others and always dream for more. When i showed my animals at the county fair, my personalities said, cathy, you need to save this money so you can go to college one day. So i did. I saved, worked hard and became the first in my family to graduate from college. The chance to go from my washington to this one was unexpected. I came to congress to help empower people, not politicians, to grow the working middle class, not the government. And to ensure that everyone in this country can find a job. Because a job is so much more than a pay check. It gives us purpose, dignity, and the foundation to build a future. I was single when i was elected. It wasnt long before i met brian, a retired Navy Commander and now we have three beautiful children, one born just eight weeks ago. Like all parents, we have high hopes and dreams for our children. But we also know what its like to face challenges. Three days after our son was born, cole, we got news no parent expects. Cole was diagnosed with downs syndrome. The doctors told us he could have endless complications, heard defects and even early alzheimers. They told us all the problems. But when we looked at our son, we saw only possibilities. We saw a gift from god. And today we see a sixyearold boy who dances to bruce springstein, who reads above grade level and is the best big brother in the world. We see all the things he can do, not those that cant. And cole and his sisters, grace and bryn made me determined to see the potential in every human life, that whether we are brorn with an extra chromosome or dollar to our name, we are not defined by our limits, but our potential. Our mission, not only as republicans, but americans, is to ensure that we are not bound by where we come from, but empowered which what we can become. That is the gap republicans are working to close. Its the gap we face between where you are and where you want to be. The president talks a lot about income and equality, but the real gap we face today is one of opportunity and equality. With this administrations policies, that gap has become far too wide. We see this gap growing every single day. We see it in our neighbours, struggling to find jobs. A husband who is working parttime. A child who drops out of college because she cant afford tuition, or parents outliving their life savings. Last month more americans stopped looking for a job than found one. Too many people are falling further and further behind because right now the president s policies are making peoples lives harder. Republicans have plans to close the gap, plans that will focus on jobs first, without spending, government bailouts and red tape. Every day we work to expand our recovery. One manufacturing job, nursing during at a time. We have plans to improve training systems, so you have a choice to determine where your kids go to school, so clem is affordable and skills training is modernized. Yes, its time to honour history of legal immunizition. We are working on a step by step solution to Immigration Reform by securing borders and making sure america will attract the best, brightest and hardest working from around the world. With too Many Americans living pay check to pay check we have solutions to help you take home more of your pay through lower taxes, Cheaper Energy cost and affordable halds care. Not long ago i had a letter from betty, who hoped the president s heath care law would save her money, instead they went up by 700 a month. We talked to too many people who received cancellation notices, or who can no longer see the doctors they always have. No, we shouldnt go back to the way things were. But this law is not working. Republicans believe Health Care Choices should be yours, not the gaffes, and that whether you are a boy with down syndrome or a woman with breast cancer, you can find coverage and a doctor who will treat you. We hope the president will join us in a year of real access, by empowering people, not by making their lives harder with unprecedented spending, higher taxes and fewer jobs. As republicans we advance these actions every day, because we believe in a government that trust people and does not limit where you finished because of where you started. That is what we stand for. Its for an america that is every bit of compassionate as it is successful. If we are successful years from now our children will say that we rebuilt the american dream. We built a working middle class that cap take in anyone, and a workforce that can take on the world. Whether you are a girl in kettle falls or a boy from brooklyn, our children should be able to say that we closed the gap. Our plan is one that dreams big for everyone, and turns its back on no one. The president said many things tonight. But now i ask him to listen to you. For the true state of union lies in your heart, and in your home. Tomorrow ill watch my son cole get on the school bus. Others will wait in the Doctors Office or interview for that first job. Some of us will celebrate new beginnings, others will face great challenges. All of us will wake up and do what is uniquely american. Well look forward to the balanced potential that lies ahead and give thanks to the brave men and women who answer add americas call to freedom like a sergeant who gave his life to protect all of ours. Tonight i offer a prayer a prayer for sergeant hesss family, your family and for our larger American Family that with the guidance of god, we may prove ourselves worthy of his blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For when we embrace these gifts we are doing our part to form a perfect union. May god guide you and our president and continue to bless the United States of america. Representative Cathy Mcmorris rogers speaking from capitol. We are monitoring alternative spornses. The official Tea Party Response and being given by mike lee, the republican senator from utah, and republican senator rand paul we are waiting to hear from, from kentucky. Well bring you some of that later. President ial historian laura brown. What did you think of that response . I think it was too much of a personal Campaign Stunt speech, and there really wasnt enough about what are the republican proposals or policies that they see that are different from the president s. Much of what she said was either personal or it was against the president. Doesnt she have to introduce herself. This is an attempt to introduce herself. She is in the leadership, but its tough for anybody in the opposing party to respond to a president in the state of the union, the majesty of the congress, its tough. At the same time i was struck and a little disappointed by her talking about, for instance, immigration, and only focussing on Border Security and not the issue of legalization of the 12 million here. She didnt say we want to work with the president on immigration or any issues. It was not a terrible oil partisan the veiled speech but at the same time i think what they are trying to do is boost their standing with women, boost their standing with minorities, possibly, because i think the women voter in this country is really turned off by a strong republican agenda, and its still the case. Well hear from two more responses to the president and see what they have to say as well. Does it strike you that to divide the republican voice in various ways, to have ms rogers give her statement, to have one from senator paul and senator lee. Its a divided party. Its underscores that. On who is the main spokesperson. As a democrat you like that a lot. Well, yes. It she is for the president ial elections, therell be primaries against the republican moderates or establishment, like i suspect mcmorris might be. Its a divided party. It will hurt them in 2016 in a president ial election if they cant get together. Well go to Mike Viqueira, the White House Correspondent. Hes made the trek there. What are you hearing there . First of all on Congress WomanMcmorris Rogers speech. It was soft edge. I think governor richardson hit it on the head. Mitt romney lost the womens votes 5544 two novembers ago. This is a play to appeal to women voters. We heard her weave in a narrative. Bringing in the eldest of three children. Casting inequality in a republican like, a gap in quality and opportunity. As far as hard news was concerned you have to dig. I thought i heard something on immigration, she wasnt exactly concealia tory, but not entirely negative. A year ago they would have slammed a path to citizenship. Whether a green card or full fellowship. In the senate bim, she did not say that, she didnt reject any of that. She said she wanted to go piece i piece by piece. It was a nuance that the Congress Woman talked about. One other thing, she criticised the Affordable Care act, and talked about a government plan. A lot of people say what republican plan. Its a gaming weakness. From what i could hear of it, i cant see, i heard her. I thought she hit her stride. Well get back to you in a second. Tony harris is at the headquarters in new york, where he followed both speeches. Appreciate it. I want to engage David Shuster on a couple of points. Let me put water on it, cold or whatever it is. Seems we saw two speeches, the president s state of union and the republican response that were about as safe as you get for big speeches. You would have to point to me the moment in the speech that moved the media in either direction for either side in the two speeches. I listened to governor richards talk about disappointment over not getting more out of the Foreign Policy debate. There is not a clean narrative on any of the conflict zones in the middle east, in syria. Its really a palestine peace talks. There is no clean narrative that the president can talk to and say we are getting real traction, we have an opportunity for a win here. To pick up on laura browns point, it was what it needed to be for the president , and that is a domestic speech about domestic policies. We are dealing with the news and the polls suggesting that americans are job number one for the president is to get america back to work. And what i heard was a speech where the president kind of revealed how hamstrung he is, the extent to which his hands are tied. He needs republican help to get the next piece of legislation passed. Theres not much that he can do, hes essentially contained. There was something of a fig leaf an Immigration Reform saying, okay, maybe we can work and get ag done, thatd be a major accomplishment, so the president almost stayed off of it. Youll look at the politics of the speech. Minimum wage. These are political issues, it seems like the speech is not about the legislation done as it was setting up the country saying, okay, we can but the republicans in a boxes it was chess. Look at the situation we are talking about. We are talking about a situation where the government shutdown. I think most observers would say the republicans took the brunt of that. Then you get on the heels of that a botched rollout of the Affordable Care act. And now you get to january, and the state of the union, and it fell to me that it was a safe speech, the response was safe, and little that is controversial, and even the jabs, to me, felt subtle. That may be smart too. For president ial historyians, there may be longings for lings passed. Once upon a time there was a response from an Opposition Party theyd anticipate. We knew that the president was going to talk about minimum wage and Health Reforms and health care. No alternative plan or addressing minimum wage in the republican response. No addressing immigration, so again it felt like safe speeches talking period of time one another k thinking how can they cobble together a winning speech. A number of of them from worried about the standing with women, but it felt like a political speech, not a legislative lets get it down. Back to our colleagues in washington dv. Thank you. Back to Washington State where Allen Schauffler is standing by. The people in Washington State follow this carefully. She talked a lot about her roots. All right. Obviously we are having technical problems with the live shot. I wanted to go back to the president ial historian. You know the most one of the most interesting things i heard tonight is when i asked you whether or not this is one for the history books, you said no. And i have been thinking about that since then. Im not talking about Cathy Mcmorris rogers, but the president of the United States, as this sinks in, we heard today that it might not be a laundry list. It sure was the laundry list, it was the longest i have heard in a long time. When i looked at this thing in its entirety, what i saw was yes, there was the laundry list aspect. As i mentioned before, there was a lot of credit claiming, trying to bring up past legislative successors, whether it was race to the top or any of huhs other sort of his other sort of opportunities that he had put forward, and that credit claiming is common in an Election Year. As they said, its something you want to do to give your party a platform to run on. More than anything, it was safe. That is a great description of the peach. They were small proposals, the responses were small. Let me say one quick thing about the opposition response. Yes, the republicans have a deluded message. This is not the first time. In 198412 democrats responded to ronald reagan, there were times, and when you look back to when the original opposition response began in 1956 it was because l. B. J. Had done a phenomenal job in 1965, passed much of his legislation in the legislative session, and by 66 the republicans thought we better come back and respond to this. They dont call it the republican or democratic profile personality speech. If its going to be a response and you have a congress that is opposed to almost everything that this president has done in years, why not take the opportunity to really respond to him . Son some of the more contentious issues the president mentioned they voted more than 40 times to take down the Affordable Care act. And while she critiqued it, there was no attempt to embody some of that opposition real principled in many cases, political in some case, but real opposition to almost everything in the president s domestic program. First to show how old i am, i think i was one of the 12. Were you . I remember jim wright asking me to do it, i think i was. A memorable feat. I didnt even remember. But i do think that there was a little bit of defiance in the president. When you go up and say, im going to do executive orders if you dont do what i want, we havent talked about energy or climate change, but he basically said, im going to do something on that, and congress, you need to join me. He bragged about marijuanay. The Energy Component was the longest i have seen, talking about shale gas and renewables. We are better off energy wise, and hes taking credit for that. I do see in his speech he as upbeat, he was strong. Other speeches he was a little more nuanced. This one was the most important year. You go into the last two years and get into the lame duck status. This is the year he either gets Immigration Refor