Accumulated wealth. We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college. We need a tax code that truly helps working americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy, and we can achieve that together. Helping hardworking families make ends meet. Giving them the tools they need for goodpaying jobs in this new economy. Maintaining the conditions for growth and competitiveness. This is where America Needs to go. I believe its where the American People want to go. It will make our economy stronger a year from now fifteen years from now, and deep into the century ahead. Of course, if theres one thing this new century has taught us, its that we cannot separate our work here at home from challenges beyond our shores. My first duty as commanderinchief is to defend the United States of america. In doing so, the question is not whether america leads in the world, but how. When we make rash decisions reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads; when the First Response to a challenge is to send in our military, then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer more prosperous world. Thats what our enemies want us to do. I believe in a smarter kind of american leadership. We lead best when we combine military power with strong diplomacy; when we leverage our power with coalition building; when we dont let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents. Thats exactly what were doing right now, and around the globe, it is making a difference. First, we stand united with people around the world who have been targeted by terrorists from a school in pakistan to the streets of paris. We will continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their net woverbings and we reserve the right to act unilaterally as we have done relentlessly since i took office to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to us and our allies. We learned lessons. Instead of learning the lessons, they have taken the lead and horpped our troops and instead of sending joifer seas to den iowa safe havens. In iraq and syria, America America leadership is stopping isis we are leading a broad coalition. We are supporting a moderate coalition and assisting people everywhere against violent sprisme the speaker pro tempore we will succeed, and tonight i call on this congress to show the word we are united to authorize a resolution against iceis. We need that authority. Second, we are demonstrating strength and pelosi. Upploding the nations by opposing russian aggressionion and assuring our nato jalt eyes. Jail eyes. Last year as we were doing the hard work along with your allies and reinforcing our presence with the front line states, mr. Putins aggression, it was suggested was strategy and strengths. Today, it is america who stands strong. Russia is isolated with its economy in at that timers. Thats how america leads. We have resolve. In cuba we are ending a policy that long passed its sparings date. And what you are doing doesnt work for 50 years, try to try something new and our ships and cuba policy has the potential to end, mistrust in our hems officer and stands up for democratic values. And this year, congress should be working to end the embargo. As pope france cyst v, plomes is the work of small steps, these small steps have added up. And after years in prison, we are overjoyed that alan gross is back home. Welcome home. Our plomes is at work with respect to yirne where the first time we have halted the program of the program and reduced the nuclear program. We have a agreement that prevents a nucleararmed iran and avoiding another middle east conflict. There are no guarantees that the negotiation will succeed. A new sanction passed by this congress at this moment in time will guarantee that pelosi fails. Allen ating america from its allies and ensuring the program, it dose nt make sense. And i will undue this progress. The American People expect us to go to war as a last resort and i instead to stay true to that wisdom. First we are looking beyond the issues beyond the past to shape. No hacker should be able to shut our network and especially our kids. We are macking thaur our government combats threats. I urge to pass the legislation to combat identity threats and that should be a bipartisan effort. If we dont act, our i believe our nation and economy is vulnerable. If we do, we can protect the technologies for peoples around the globe. West africa, our troops, our scientists, our doctors, our nurses helping to storm watch the threat of disease. I could not be prouder of them. And i thank this congress for your boip support of their efforts. The world needs to use this lesson to prevent the spread of pandemics and aradic supreme poverty. We are modern ising and making sure other nation play by the rules and how they participate in meeting challenges like nonproffers and disaster relief. And no challenges. No challenges, poses greater threat than climate quhange. Change. 204 was the planets warmest year on record. And one year doesnt make a trend, but this does 14 havent 15 warmest years of record have fallen in the first 15 years of this century. Some have said we dont have enough information to act. Im not a scientist either. I know a good scientists in noah and the best scientists are telling us that the our activities are changing the climate and we will continue to see rising ocean heat waves and massive diss runses and greater conflict ruined the globe. The Climate Change has a major risk and we should act like that. Thats why over the past six years, we have done more than ever to come bat Climate Change. More public lands and waters more than any of this. And i will not not turn the clock back. Im determined to make sure it drives nnl action. Planet we got. And theres one last pillar of our leadership and thats the example of our values. As Human Dignity even when we are threatened and i have present present hitted torture. Its why we speak out against the anticementism in certain parts of the world and muslims, vast majority of whom share our speech. We defend free speech. And people who are lesbian, gay transsectional or transjengeder. As americans we have a profound american to justice. No to spend 3 million used to recruit. Since i have been president we have cut combit mow in half. And it is not who we are. Its time to close get more. We charish our civil little brits. While somebody have moved on i have not. As promised our agencies having worked hard, increase transparency and build more safeguards and next month we willish a report. Lookic to the future instead of the past. Making sure we match our power with diplomacy. Meeting new challenges and opportunities. Leading always with the example of our values. Thats what makes us our exceptional. That keeps us strong. We have to keep striving ours to the highest of standards our own. You know, just over a decade ago, i gave a speech in boston, black america and white america, but a United States of america. I said this because i seen it in my own mind, a nation that gave me a chance because i grew up in hawaii, melting pot, because i made illinois my home, state of small towns, rich farmlands, a country where democrats and republicans and independence, good people have good values. Over the past six years, the pundits pointed out that my pptsi hasnt delivered on this vision. And held up as proof, not just of my faults of which there are in, but the vision itself is Madison Square garden guided naive, too many people in this town that benefit from gridlock to do anything about it. I i know how tempting such cynicism may be, but i still think the cynics are wrong. I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together we can do great things, even when the odds are long. I believe this because over and over in my six years in office i have seen america at its best. I have seen the hopeful faces of young graduates from new york to california our newest officers at west point, indianapolis, Colorado Springs new london west point, unanimous, Colorado Springs, new london. Ive mourned with grieving familyings at tucson and newtown and boston and west texas, and west virginia. Ive watched americans beat back adversity from the gulf coast to the great plains, from Midwest Assembly lines to the mid atlantic seaboard. Ive seen Something Like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart, to a civil right thats now legal in states that seven in 10 americans call home. So i know the good, and optimistic, and bighearted generosity of the American People who, every day, live the idea that we are our brothers keeper, and our sisters keeper. And i know they expect those of us who serve here to set a better example. So the question for those of us here tonight is how we, all of us can better reflect americas hopes. Ive served in congress with many of you. I know many of you well. There are a lot of good people here, on both sides of the aisle. And many of you have told me that this isnt what you signed up for. Arguing past each other on cable shows, the constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision. Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did something different. Understand, a better politics isnt one where democrats abandon their agenda or republicans simply embrace mine. A better politics is one where we appeal to each others basic decency instead of our basest fears. A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues, and values, and principles, and facts, rather than gotcha moments or trivial gaffes or fake controversies that have nothing to do with peoples daily lives. A better politics is one where we spend less time drowning in dark money for ads that pull us into the gutter but spending more time lifting young people up with a sense of purpose and possibility, asking them to join in the Great Mission of building america. If were going to have arguments, lets have arguments, but lets make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country. We still may not agree on a womans right to choose, but surely we can agree its a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing alltime lows, and that every woman should have access to the health care she needs. Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is snatched from her child, and that its possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. I talked to republicans and democrats about that. Thats something we can share. We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the right to vote is to too many; and that, on this 50th anniversary of the great march from selma to montgomery and the passage of the Voting Rights act, we can come together, democrats and republicans, to make voting easier for every single american. We may have different takes on the events of ferguson and new york. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son cant walk home without being harassed. Surely we can understand the wife who wont rest until the Police Officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Surely we can agree its a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for democrats and republicans, Community Leaders and Law Enforcement, to reform americas criminal Justice System so that it protects and serves us all. Thats a better politics. Thats how we start rebuilding trust. Thats how we move this country forward. Thats what the American People want. Thats what they deserve. I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda for the next two i know, because i won both of them. Yeah. My only agenda for think next two years is the same as the one ive had since the day i swore an oath on the steps of this capitol, to do what i believe is best for america. If you share the broad vision i outlined tonight, i ask you to join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of it, i hope youll at least work with me where you do agree. And i commit to every republican here tonight that i will not only seek out your ideas, i will seek to work with you to make this country stronger. Because i want this chamber, i want this city to reflect the truth that for all our blind spots and shortcomings, we are a people with the strength and generosity of spirit to bridge divides, to unite in common effort, and to help our neighbors, whether down the street or on the other side of the world. I want our actions to tell every child, in every neighborhood your life matters, and we are as committed to improving your life chances as we are for our own kids. I want future generations to know that we are a people who see our differences as a great gift, that we are a people who value the dignity and worth of every citizen. Man and woman, young and old, black and white, latino, asian, immigrant, native american, gay, straight, americans with Mental Illness or physical disability. Everybody matters. I want them to grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true. That we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states, and we are the United States of america. I want them to grow up in a country where a young mom can sit down and write a letter to her president with a story that sums up these past six years. It is amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to. We are a strong tightknit family who has made it through some very, very hard times. My fellow americans, we too are a strong, tightknit family. We too, have made it through some hard times. 15 years into this new century we have picked ourselves up dusted ourselves off and begun again the work of remaking america. We have laid a newfoundation. A Brighter Future is ours to write. Lets begin this new chapter together. And lets start the work right now. Thank you. God bless you. God bless this country we love. Thank you. Ore a few moments ago we heard the president lay out his vision for the year to come. Even if we may not always agree its important to hear different points of view in this great country. We appreciate the president sharing his. Tonight, though, rather than respond to a speech i would like to talk about your priorities. I would like to have a conversation about the new Republican Congress you just elected and how we plan to make washington focus on your concerns again. We heard the message you sent in november loud and clear, and now were getting to work to change the direction washington has been taking our country. The new Republican Congress also understands how difficult these past sex years have been. For many of us the sting of the economy and the frustration with washingtons dysfunction warrent things we had to read about. We felt them every day. We felt them in red oak, the little town in southwestern iowa where i grew up and am still proud to call home today. As a young girl i plowed the fields of our family farm, i worked construction with my dad, to save for college i worked the morning biscuit line at hardees. We were raised to live simply, not to waste. It was a lesson my mother taught me every rainy morning. You see, growing up i had only one good pair of shoes. So on rainy school days my mom would slip plastic bread bags over them to keep them dry. But i was never embarrassed because the school bus would be filled with rows and rows of young iowans with bread bags slipped over their feet. Our parents may not have had much but they worked hard for what they did have. These days though, many families feel like theyre working harder and harder with less and less to show for it. Not just in red oak but across the country. We see our neighbors agonized over stagnant wages and lost jobs. We see the hurt caused by canceled Health Care Plans and higher monthly insurance bills. We see too many moms and dads put their own dreams on hold while growing more fearful about the kind of future they will be able to leave to their children. Americans have been hurting. But when we demanded solutions too often washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like obamacare. Its a mindset that gave us political talking points, not serious solutions. Thats why the new republican majority you elected started by reforming congress to make it function again. And now were working hard to pass the kind of serious job creation ideas you deserve. One youve probably heard about is the keystone jobs bill. President obama has been delaying this bipartisan Infrastructure Project for years. Even though many members of his party, unions and a Strong Majority of americans support it. The president s own state department has said keystones construction could support thousands of jobs and pump billions into our economy, and do it with minimal environmental impact. We worked with democrats to pass this bill through the house. Were doing the same now in the senate. President obama will soon have a decision to make. Will he sign the bill or block Good American jobs . There is a lot we can achieve if we Work Together. Lets tear down trade barriers in places like europe and the pacific. Lets sell more of what we make and grow in america over there so we can boost manufacturing wages and jobs right here at home. Lets simplify americas outdated and loophole ridden tax code. Republicans think tax filing should be easier for you, not just the wellconnected. So lets iron out loopholes to lower rates and create jobs, not pay for more Government Spending. The president has already expressed some support for these kinds of ideas. Were calling on him now to cooperate to pass th