This evening, President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address. Following that address, Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement:
For more than two hundred years, in times of prosperity and times of hardship, American Presidents have presented their plan to win the future for the American people in the State of the Union address. In his first State of the Union address, President Obama spoke to a nation in crisis. He reviewed the steps already taken to address that crisis and laid out his plan for reviving our economy and renewing the American spirit of opportunity. In the year since, he has followed through on that plan. As a result, President Obama tonight spoke to a nation that is beginning to heal. For an increasing number of Americans, the pain of the economic crisis is receding as more businesses add jobs and more Americans return to the workplace. Yet, as the President acknowledged, there is still much more work to be done to cement our economic progress and secure a new century of prosperity.
To that end, the President charted a bold plan to win the future today by guaranteeing that the American people are able to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build competitors around the globe. President Obama will make America stronger by empowering more students to get the quality education they need to succeed in 21st century jobs; by focusing on investments that support American talent and innovation; by building up American infrastructure; and by reforming government so that it’s more responsible and responsive. He will give Americans the tools they need to reach for the American Dream. And he will ensure that our children inherit a country as resplendent with opportunity as the one our parents passed down to us.
I hope that in the coming year Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle will join President Obama on the course he set tonight, working together to secure a new century of American greatness and a brighter future for all Americans.