President Barack Obama called upon House Republicans to rally around a new “economic patriotism” with him Tuesday afternoon at the Georgetown Waterfront Park.

Although he began on a light note, mentioning the U.S. Men’s National Team’s upcoming World Cup match, and striking an upbeat tone with the importance of infrastructure funding, his demeanor changed over the course of the 20-minute speech. Expressing emotions that ranged from disbelief to disdain toward House Republicans, Obama maintained that their inaction was holding back middle class families.

A focal point of the speech was the call for Congress to renew the Highway Trust Fund, a program established in 1956 that finances federal roadways.

“It seems like a sensible thing to do,” Obama said of renewing the fund. “It’s not crazy. It’s not socialism. It’s not the imperial presidency. No laws are broken. We’re just building bridges like we have for the last 150 or so years.”

He said if Congress fails to renew the fund this summer, 700,000 jobs would be jeopardized, which he likened to “Congress laying off the entire population of Denver, Seattle or Boston.”

Invoking the image of the Francis Scott Key Bridge behind him, Obama noted that the bridge was deemed structurally inefficient by Transportation for America in June 2011, and that work would begin on it soon so everybody, “even members of Congress,” can travel safely.

He alluded to a perception that some Republicans oppose renewed infrastructure spending to deny him political capital, though he made clear that he does not believe taking infrastructure action constitutes a personal political win.

“This isn’t Obama Bridge,” he said. “This is Key Bridge.”

He made reference to the recent lawsuit launched by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week, which alleges that Obama has engaged in unconstitutional overreaches of executive authority to work without congressional approval. Listing his past unilateral actions and plans to act alone in the future, Obama clearly articulated that he was unfazed by what he has characterized as “a stunt.”

Flanked by construction trucks bearing American flags, he derided House Republicans for what he views as intentional obstruction.

“I’m not sure why they haven’t acted [on infrastructure spending],” he said to the crowd. “It’s not like they are busy with other stuff.”

Obama drew his largest applause from the audience, which consisted of primarily government officials from relevant agencies and employees of infrastructure-related firms, when he adopted campaign-like rhetoric in describing his motivations to act.

“Let’s tell everybody they’re worth something,” he said. “No matter who you are, what you look like, who you love, this is America. You can make it. That’s why I ran for office.”