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Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday pointed to several ways he was personally open to teaming up with the White House, noting that the 2016 Republican nominee will be affected by whether the GOP-dominated Congress can accomplish anything.

Paul (R-Ky.), a near-certain presidential contender, offered those remarks to the Ripon Society, a Republican group, at the Capitol Hill Club in an early-morning speech the day after the State of the Union. During the speech, he also offered an impassioned defense of his foreign policy views.

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If were looking forward to 2016, and some of us are, he said to laughs, we need to show we can do something when were in charge and something that works.

He noted a tax effort hes working on that would bring back money from overseas to be reinvested in American infrastructure, saying that it could be a bipartisan success and whoever our nominee is can move forward taking credit for it.

Beyond infrastructure, the senator said he would be willing to work with the White House on a range of issues including criminal justice reform he is a leading Republican advocate for restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons and even said he would compliment the administration for moving to roll back civil forfeiture laws. The libertarian-leaning Paul, who visited Ferguson, Missouri, during the protests following the death of an unarmed teenager, described an undercurrent of unease, in which minorities feel that they arent being treated fairly by the criminal justice system, even as he was quick to stress he didnt think police conduct was racially motivated.

If the president wants to work with me, I have five or six bills, many related to criminal justice reform, the senator said.

Paul, who is seeking to broaden the GOP base in part by reaching out to minority communities that dont often hear from Republicans, also underscored his support for piecemeal immigration reform, though he did not back the comprehensive approach the Senate passed.

But the senator also spent plenty of time mocking the State of the Union, saying at times it was frankly difficult to listen to with a straight face. He said it took chutzpah and gall to tout cutting the deficit by two-thirds, Obama said at a time of significant debt.

He should come to the Hill, Paul said of the president. He should talk to the legislators for all the fire, I will work with him. Ive offered to work with him.

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Paul open to working with White House