The White House has released additional excerpts of President Obama's address to Congress this evening:
"We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.
"Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
(CNN) – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will give the Republican response to Pres. Obama’s speech Tuesday night.
The first official "response" to the State of the Union by the opposing party was delivered by Republicans Sen. Everett Dirksen and Rep. Gerald Ford in 1966. Each television network offered a half-hour slot for response time, although the slots were not "roadblocked" (i.e. did not air at the same time on all networks), and did not air immediately after the President's address.
Television time was first available for the opposing party's response immediately following the State of the Union in 1976.
The choice of speaker usually rotates between the opposing party's House and Senate leadership, although on several occasions party leaders have chosen multiple speakers.
A list of past speakers for the opposing party response dating back to 1990 is available after the jump.
(CNN) – President Obama has a tech-savvy reputation. But his speech Tuesday night won’t be the first presidential address to Congress to be webcast live.
Which president beat Obama to the punch on the World Wide Web?
Answer after the jump
(CNN) – It isn’t President Obama’s first stint in the prime-time spotlight — his White House press conference to push for the stimulus came during the evening hours - but the nation’s chief executive will have the national stage to himself tonight.
The State of the Union address wasn’t always a prime-time event. Which president moved the speech from midday to the evening?
Answer after the jump
FULL POST
(CNN) – On television (and on the Internet), millions of Americans will watch President Obama’s speech Tuesday night.
The practice of broadcasting presidential addresses to Congress goes back decades. How far back?
Answers after the jump
(CNN) – Since it became tradition for the president to deliver the annual message to Congress in person, who is the only president to deliver the State of the Union in writing?
Answer after the jump
(CNN) - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will offer a spirited criticism of the Democrats' stimulus plan while stressing the need to forge bipartisanship in Washington during the official Republican response to the president's address to Congress Tuesday night.
“Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt," Jindal will say according to advance excerpts released by the Republican National Committee Tuesday.
But the rising GOP star will also hit on similar themes President Obama campaigned on last year, including the need for Washington lawmakers to come together.
“Republicans are ready to work with the new president to provide those solutions," he will say. "Here in my state of Louisiana, we don’t care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital."
Jindal is also set to say his party has recent failed when it comes to fiscal discipline.
“In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear – because our party got away from its principles," Jindal will say. "You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust – and rightly so."
Excerpts after the jump
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House released an excerpt this afternoon of the speech President Obama will deliver to a joint session of Congress this evening:
"But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.
"The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more."
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate has confirmed California Rep. Hilda Solis as the Obama administration's labor secretary. The final vote was 80-17 in favor of confirmation.
From CNN Politics
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