Supply our needs and to lead us toward abundant living. Continue to sustain our senators with your eternal presence remind them that your hand is on the helm of Human Affairs and that you still guide your world. Renew their strength, as you provide them with the courage to carry on. May they refuse to do anything which could bring them regret, remorse and shame. We pray in your strong name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell tonight well welcome the president of the United States for the state of the Union Address. Its his final address, and it gives us cause for reflection. Many of us recall a moment in boston when a state senator became a national star. His rhetorical gift was undeniable. It was a soaring elocution made in confetti that promised a new and more inclusive beginning. It inspired many. It propelled barack obama to the highest office in the land. Americans assumed that campaigning would eventually come to a close and the serious work of governing would eventually commence. But its now many years later, and the obama for President Campaign never really ended. Speeches still substitute for substance. Straw men still stand in for serious debate. Slogans still surrogate for governing. Weve been promised even more campaigning tonight, this time for the candidate president obama would like to see succeed him. It leads americans to wonder when is the serious work of governing ever going to begin. Governing isnt easy. Governing often requires serious engagement with the congress the American People elected, not the one the president wishes theyd elected. But heres a simple fact. You dont make change through slogans. Thats something president obama once said. I wish hed taken his own advice, because heres what we know as we enter the twilight of his presidency. Hes presided over a sluggish and uneven economic recovery thats failing too many of our citizens. Health premiums and deductibles have continued to shoot ever higher. Wages have flat lined for too many. Inequality has grown. Manufacturing has shrunk. Poverty seems too entrenched. The middle class has continued to collapse to the point where it no longer constitutes a majority of our country. The Obama Administration says it wants to help the middle class but its policies often tell a different story. Weve seen the negative impact obamacare has had on so many middleclass families. Weve also seen this administration declare a war on coal families who just want to get ahead. Tonight ive invited a kentucky miner from pikeville, howard absher, as my state of the union guest. Hes watched as the Obama Administrations heartless approach has helped contribute to devastation in his community and to the loss of thousands of jobs in kentucky, one of which was his own job. And heres what his message has been to president obama. Howard absher said were hurting and we need help. But we dont want to be bailed out, we want to work. Many kentuckians feel the very same way. Many americans feel similarly too. Today only 20 of our citizens think things are headed in the right direction in their country. Nearly threequarters want the next president to take a direct, to take a totally different approach from the current one. These are the simple facts, and they present the president with a choice. President obama can try to blame others for it. He can try to convince americans theyre wrong to feel the way they do, or he can take responsibility and chart a new course. Americans are losing faith in the future. Theyre losing hope their children can lead a better life. They watch as challenges continue to mount around the world, like those from isil, iran, russia, al qaeda and everaggressive china, north korea, and of course the taliban. While this administration seems to have no plan to deal with any of it. This hurt in our country and the failing approach from the white house should be disheartening to all of us. Perhaps the worst part is it didnt have to be like this. It really didnt have to be like this. I believe that when the American People elected a divided government, they arent telling us to do nothing. Theyre telling us to Work Together in the areas where we can agree so we can make progress for our country. This congress has racked up a growing list of bipartisan accomplishments for the American People over the past year. Some thought the measured reforms we passed in areas like education and transportation and medicare and tax relief are all impossible in the current political climate. We proved those pundits wrong. We showed how significant bipartisan accomplishments can be achieved when good policy is the goal. Perhaps weve inspired the president to finally try his hand at bipartisan achievement as well. Well see tonight when he delivers his last state of the Union Address. If he proposes real plans to do things like defeat isil, grow Economic Opportunity and strengthen the middle class class, plans actually designed to pass this congress not just provide talking points for the next campaign well know hes ready to join us in meeting the challenges of tomorrow. Because republicans arent afraid of the future, and we dont think president obama should be either. We want him to join us in recognizing the challenges of today while working for the solutions of tomorrow. It is true that we as a nation have a lot of challenges to confront. The pain and the worry in our country is real. Its palpable. But none of it is insurmountable. Thats the hopeful message i expect Governor Haley to deliver tonight. I expect her to contrast a failing presidency thats stuck in the past with a Republican Party thats oriented to the future. Nikki haley knows the american dream. Shes lived the american dream. She believes in the continuing promise of our country and she understands the importance of opportunity and upward mobility for our middle class. When Governor Haley talks about hope and change, she means it, because she actually worked to deliver it. Theres nothing wrong with inspirational speeches. We all need to be inspired, especially in trying times like these. Soaring rhetoric matched with the right policies and hard work to actually achieve them is usually good for our country. Just ask Ronald Reagan or jack kemp. But empty eloquence wrapped in leftwing ideas of yesterday that hurt the middle class, its time to leave that behind. Its time to look to the future. Well see tonight if president obama is ready to do so and move beyond the failed policies of the past. Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Reid if this were a card game which its not i guess what i would do is trump what the republican leader has said. Mr. President , my friend lives in a world that doesnt exist. Lets talk about this person named barack obama. What has happened under his time in office, his seven years, in spite of the unheard of, unrecognizable senate that the republicans have created, cloture had to be filed more than 500 times because they set out to block everything that hee wanted. In spite of that, in spite of that, the state of the union now reflects the last seven years, we have 14 million privatesector jobs have been created. During the obama years, the economy has grown. The private sector has created jobs for 70 straight months, the longest stretch in the history of our country. Unemployment is at 5 . Five percent. When barack Obama Took Office, it was in some states as much as 14 . During the years of barack obama, 17 million uninsured million americans have gained access to health care. 17 million, and the number is climbing. Renewable Energy Production has increased significantly. You drive across America Today, you see wind farms in the middle part of this country, farmers make more money from producing energy on their farms than they do harvesting corn and soybeans because of what the president suggested and we legislated in this socalled stimulus bill. Solar, wind, geothermal has increased significantly. And it will continue to grow more because they have tax incentives now for as long as seven additional years. And you know what else weve done . Not enough. But the wealthiest americans who dont mind paying more than their fair share, the only people in America Today who believe that these rich people should pay a little more are the republicans in congress. Not republicans around the country. So we made sure the wealthiest pay a little more. Weve secured permanent tax relief that will help lift 16 million lowerincome working families out of poverty. And on to industry which was on the brink of destruction, general motors, this icon of american industry, went begging for help. Chrysler motor was begging for help. The republicans said no. We democrats said yes. We were right, republicans were wrong. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created in the Auto Industry. Last month was the largest number of im sorry. More american cars and trucks were sold than any time in the history of our country. Why . Because of Barack Obamas leadership. Osama bin laden is gone. Hes been killed, and weve destroyed the greatest terrorist organization that threatens our nation. We have more to do . Of course we do. Historic agreements on Climate Change and stop iran from getting access to Nuclear Weapons have been achieved. Within the last few days iran shipped out of iran 12 tons of uranium. 12 tons. Its because of barack obama. We have a lot more to do for america on behalf of the American People, but we cant ignore the progress thats been made. My friend talks about the new senate. There is a new senate because you have a constructive minority we democrats have been willing to work with them. The issues that we have been able to pass here have been issues we should have passed years ago. We couldnt because republicans have filibustered and obstructed everything we tried to do. So i repeat, we have a lot more to do for the American People, but its a wonderful country and im so pleased with the progress weve made during the seven years of barack obama. The business of the day, i see no one on the floor, mr. President. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 12 30 p. M. With senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and with the first hour equally divided, the majority controlling the first half and the democrats controlling the final half. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt mr. President , i want to talk for a few minutes at the beginning of my remarks about what the response has been in our state, in the state of missouri to flooding. I was in st. Louis county with congresswoman wagner on saturday. I was in st. Charles county the week before that. I was in Cape Girardeau following up on the work that senator that congressman smith has done there. I was at many other places in our state, places spread pretty far apart. But we had a flooding situation that was almost totally generated in our state, different than the floods that we normally deal with and the communities reacted with very little time in an impressive way. The corps of engineers also was there to help. The National Guard there to do what they needed to do, and now we see fema and s. B. A. Stepping in to see who qualifies for what kind of assistance. But there was loss of life. More often than not, mr. President , the loss of life was somebody drove around a sign that says dont pass this sign and then got caught in a situation that they didnt anticipate, thought was less than it turned out to be, and so some families clearly are grieving that loss of life. We had five International Soldiers that lost their life near Fort Leonardwood who may be the whole idea of a low water bridge that you and i would be used to was something they hadnt thought about. We had three interstate highways closed, interstate 55, interstate 70 and interstate 44. Not only exactly the same time but all for somewhere in the 24 36hour time frame. And we have to look at that and determine what we can do to be sure people dont needlessly lose access to where their kids are, where their job is, where health care is and then just the Economic Impact of that interstate system that comes together in so many ways in missouri shutting down was something that clearly once we get beyond the immediacy of dealing with the flood itself, we need to look and see how we can prevent that problem from happening again. I dont know of a time when any two of those highways were ever closed at the same time before, but i know that interstate 70 and interstate 44 were closed at the same time. That has a real impact on people traveling east to west or economic things happening east to west anywhere in the country. I also was able to talk about some good news and im not sure that we will how much good news we are going to hear over the next few days, but certainly the good news of stepping up and looking at Health Care Research and the impact it can have in the country, things that are beginning to happen in Mental Health and things that are were trying to do to respond to Prescription Drug abuse that becomes opioid abuse in all areas. In Health Care Research, the National Institute of health hadnt had an increase in their Research Funding since 2003. There was an effort made right before that to make a substantial increase and the case is so easily made, the fact that the congress stopped and the Administration Stopped has always been very frustrating to me, but we were able to see an increase this year for the first time in 12 years. Now, that meant you had to create a priority for too many people in government. Anything anybody wants to do is a priority. When there is a discussion, we have to fund our priorities. A lot of our colleagues hear that saying that means we have to Fund Anything anybody has ever convinced the government for no matter how short a period of time that the government should put on the list of things were interested in. Being interested in something doesnt make it a priority. It just makes it something that if Everything Else was going the right way maybe this is somewhere you should look. But to fund n. I. H. At a new level, we have totally eliminated 18 programs, zeroed them out, didnt eliminate the authorization for them, just eliminated the money to run those 18 programs that the congress accepted the argument and the president eventually accepted the argument that for the greater good these 18 things dont need to continue to be done. The president asked for 23 new programs that didnt get funded either, but that allowed us to make a commitment to really set a priority. Now, why would you want to set a priority and by the way, the increase was the first increase in 12 years was almost 7 . It was 6. 6 . We went from 30 billion that was being spent on Health Care Research last year to 32 billion this year. And hopefully this is the first step toward trying to solve Health Care Problems with all the things that are changing in health care. Everything from Smartphone Technology to individual medicine. Now that we know what we know about the human genome and how do we find that out . We found that out through n. I. H. Research. If we hadnt had n. I. H. Research, its unlikely that the human genome would still would not be something we understand but something still a mystery to us. It was a mystery to us for all of peoples existence on the planet until just a few years ago, and the only reason that happened was the National Institutes of health and the congress decided its going to be helpful if we can figure out how all of us are different from each other, which also means now were trying to figure out how a different approach to a disease and different approach to cancer, a different approach to alzheimers or different approach to Heart Disease would make a difference. And what difference does it make . What is sort of the priority of why you would want to spend taxpayers money in this way . One is the clear impact that Health Care Research is having every day on individuals and families that arent dealing with problems that ten years ago they would have been dealing with. And what do we do moving forward for people at the First Priority . Lets see if we can find things that meet the challenge of a health care challenge. For their families that become theirupport group and their caregivers, lets see what we can do there, but for taxpayers generally, even if you werent the individual beneficiary of this, the estimates are that the medicare system will be absolutely overwhelmed between now and 2050 by things like alzheimers, things like cancer. If you can figure out a cure, if you can delay onset of alz