Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the President’s State of the Union tonight:

“Tonight, members of both parties will welcome the President to the Capitol as he lays out his plans for the year.

“We look forward to hearing what he has to say.

“We look forward to hearing what Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers has to say too.

“She’s a leader in our party with a compelling story – someone who truly understands what it means to overcome adversity…someone who’s dedicated to helping every American realize her greatest potential.

“The people of Washington’s 5th District are lucky to have her. So are we.

“As for the President’s speech: this is a pivotal moment in the Obama presidency.

“We’re now entering our sixth year with President Obama at the helm of our economy – the sixth year of his economic policies.

“And at this point, we’ve seen just about everything in the President’s toolbox.

“We’ve had a years-long clinic on the failures of liberalism.

“The government stimulus. The taxes. The regulations. The centralization. The government control.

“It just hasn’t worked.

“74 percent of the American people say it still feels like the country is in a recession — because to them, it still feels like it.

“As the Majority Leader likes to say: The rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer.

“And ladders into the middle class have been kicked away. Sawed off. Regulated into oblivion.

“This is the legacy of the Obama Economy as we stand here at the start of 2014.

“But it doesn’t have to be the legacy President Obama leaves behind in January of 2017.

“And that’s why tonight’s address is so important.

“Because it will give us the clearest indication yet of whether the President is ready to embrace the future – or whether he’ll once again take the easy route, the reflexive liberal route, and just pivot back to the failed policies of the past.

“The choice the President now confronts is a pretty basic one.

“Does he want to be a Hero to the Left, or a Champion for the Middle Class?

“It can’t be both. He has to choose.

“He could double down on the failed policies that brought us to this point. It would make his base happy, certainly.

“But we already know where that path leads for the middle class.

“Folks can try to package it any way they like – say it’s a new focus on the income stagnation that’s gotten so much worse under this President’s watch – but it’s essentially the same path we’ve been on since he took office.

“The point is this: Americans do not need a new message, they need a new direction.

“The problem isn’t the packaging. It never has been. It’s the policies themselves.

“And President Obama is the only person who can force that turn in direction. He’s the only one who can lead it.

“He could reach to the center tonight and embrace change over a broken status quo, embrace hope over stale ideology – ideology that’s led not just to stagnant incomes, but to lower median incomes….to dramatic increases in the number of folks forced to take part-time work when what they want is full time work…to greater long-term unemployment…to more poverty.

“He could ask members of both parties to help him make 2014 a real year of action, rather than just a talking point.

“If he does, he’s going to find he has a lot of support from Republicans. Because we want to work with him to get things done – we always have.

“We’ll be listening closely to see if he’s finally prepared to meet us in the political middle, so we can finally get some important things done for the middle class.

“And let’s be honest: there’s a lot that can be done.

“For instance, he could call on Senate Democrats to stop blocking all the job-creation bills the House of Representatives has already passed.

“He could call for revenue-neutral tax reform that would abolish loopholes, lower tax rates for everyone, and jump-start job creation where it counts: in the private sector.

“He could push his party to join Republicans in supporting bipartisan trade promotion legislation – something the President has said is a priority – and work aggressively to clinch the kind of job-creating trade agreements our allies in places like Canada and Europe and Australia have already been seeking.

“He could work with us to reduce the debt and deficit…to ensure the programs Americans count on will be there when they retire…to make government smarter and leaner…to unshackle the growth potential of small businesses and entrepreneurs…to address the massive dissatisfaction out there with the size and scope of government.

“And if President Obama wants to score an easy win for the middle class, he could simply put the politics aside and approve the Keystone pipeline. That’s thousands of American jobs right there.

“He won’t even need to use the phone. Just his pen. One stroke.

“I know the Keystone issue is difficult for him, because it involves a choice between pleasing the Left and helping the middle class.

“But that’s exactly the type of decision he needs to make – now. It’s emblematic of the larger choices he’ll need to make about the direction of this country too.

“Because for all his talk of going around Congress – he wouldn’t have to if he’d actually try to work with the people’s elected representatives every now and then. I’m saying don’t talk about using the phone – just use it!

“And please: be serious when you call.

“Take the income inequality issue we hear he’ll address tonight. Is this going to be all rhetoric, or is he actually serious?

“Because he’s correct to point out that the past few years have been very tough on the middle class. As I indicated, median household income has dropped by thousands since he took office.

“Republicans want to work with him on this issue – but only if he’s serious about it. He could show us he is by calling for more choices for underprivileged children trapped in failing schools. Or he could agree to work with Senator Rand Paul and me to implement Economic Freedom Zones in our poorest communities.

“And here’s something else: he could work with us to relieve the pain Obamacare is causing for so many Americans across the country. Across all income brackets.

“I asked him last year to prepare Americans for the consequences of this law. He didn’t do it.

“Today, those consequences are plain for anyone to see.

“Just last night, I hosted a tele-town hall where Kentuckians shared their stories about the stress that Obamacare is causing: restricted access to doctors and hospitals, lost jobs, lower wages, fewer choices, higher costs. I assure you, these folks won’t be applauding when the President tries to spin this law as a success tonight. More than a quarter million Kentuckians lost the plans they had and presumably wanted to keep – despite the President’s promises to the contrary.

“This is a law that caused premiums to increase an average of 47 percent in Kentucky, and in some cases more than 100 percent.

“This is a law that, in some parts of my state, is limiting choices for health care coverage to just two companies in the individual exchange market.

“And at what cost to the taxpayer?

“$253 million. That’s how much Washington has spent so far for these results in my state. A quarter of a billion dollars to essentially limit care, cancel plans, and increase costs.

“Kentucky has gotten more money to set up its exchange than every state except California, New York, Oregon, and Washington. That’s a lot of money. And they’ve still only enrolled 30 percent of the people they were supposed to at this point. How is that a success?

“So President Obama and Governor Beshear can keep telling Americans to ‘get over it’ if they don’t like this law, but sooner or later they’re going to have to come to terms with reality. They’re going to have to accept that Obamacare just hasn’t worked like the Administration promised – in Kentucky, and across America – and that it’s time to start over with real reform.

“That’s why, tonight, I hope the President will make a change. I hope he’ll announce his willingness to work with members of both parties to start over with real, bipartisan reform that can actually lower costs and improve quality of care.

“That’s the kind of reform Kentuckians and Americans really want.

“And that’s the way President Obama can show that he’s serious about a Year of Action.

“At this time next year, we’ll be able to judge if he was.

“Because if the President is still talking about unemployment benefits next January, rather than how to manage new growth, if he’s still forced to address the pain of Obamacare, rather than touting the benefits of bipartisan health reform, and if we’re still trapped in these endless cul-de-sacs on Keystone, and trade, and tax reform. Then we’ll know which choice the President made.

“We’ll know that the special interests won. That the middle class lost.

“But I hope we won’t get there. I hope he’ll reach out tonight. I hope he’ll be serious.

“I hope he’ll help us chart a new path for the American people that both parties can support.
That might sound like fantasy to some on the hard-left who think tonight’s all about them.

“But the fact is, there have always been good ideas the two parties can agree on in Washington—ideas that would make life easier, not harder, for working Americans.

“Until now, the President’s mostly chosen to ignore them. Here’s hoping for something different tonight.”