Frank Pallone: “But the bottom line is, with the State of the Union, is there is a real opportunity for us to work on a bipartisan basis…”

“But the bottom line is, with the State of the Union, is there is a real opportunity for us to work on a bipartisan basis on some of these issues. I just hope that this year, unlike last year, we see the cooperation of the Republican majority in the Congress working with the President and with the Democrats to get some of these things done. Because if we do not, I think that the American people are going to be very disappointed. They clearly want HMO reform. They want a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. They want the Federal Government to do more to help those who do not have health insurance. They want us to work on some of these education initiatives. If we do not come through, we only have ourselves to blame. I am just really doing nothing more, as I am sure the President will do tonight, but to call on the Republicans and the majority in the Congress to work with us this year and not have the negative attitude towards the President's proposals that, unfortunately, we had in the last year.”