What did you think of President Obama's State of the Union address?
Members of Congress are off and running following last night's State of the Union address.
I was encouraged to see that there was agreement from both parties that jobs need to be the No. 1 priority. And on occasion, both Republicans and Democrats stood to applaud parts of Obama's speech.
The political landscape will surely be much different in the year ahead than it was during the president's first term. What that landscape ends up looking like is yet to be seen.
Here are the responses from the Congressional delegation that represents Walworth County, in the order their e-mails arrived:
Senator Kohl Statement on the State of the Union Address
I’m encouraged that the President is committed to creating jobs, relieving pressure on middle class families, and growing the economy. Deficit reduction is also essential to the long term economic health of our country, and achieving it is going to take bipartisan effort. We’re pleased that he emphasized the need for strengthening retirement security for all Americans, and remains committed to reforming our enormously expensive health care system.
Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on President Obama’s State of the Union Address
“President Obama rightly focused the bulk of his speech on getting Americans back to work and cutting the deficit. These must be our top priorities in 2010. I was particularly pleased to hear the president support a jobs tax credit to help businesses hire workers and bring down unemployment. I have introduced a jobs tax credit bill to boost employment and I am confident Congress will take action soon to help Americans get back to work.
I am also pleased the president is working to cut spending. In order to bring spending under control, Congress should pass pay-as-you-go legislation, a line item-veto like the one I’ve introduced with Congressman Paul Ryan, and long-overdue earmark reform so we can stop pouring taxpayer dollars into lawmakers’ pet projects.
As the president said, addressing these challenges will take Democrats and Republicans working together and Congress should respond with bipartisan efforts to create jobs and cut the deficit.”
Ryan Statement on President’s State of the Union
“President Obama was right to focus his remarks on job creation, fiscal responsibility, and keeping America safe. But I was disappointed to yet again find the substance fall far short of the rhetoric. Many of the policies the President advanced tonight – including the continued push for the Majority’s massive health care overhaul – reasserted Washington’s ideological commitment to a reckless expansion of government at the expense of economic growth.
“The President was right to acknowledge that our massive deficits are unsustainable. We must build momentum to tackle this fiscal crisis, but the illusion of budget discipline must be matched with actual solutions. That is why earlier today I reintroduced ‘A Roadmap For America’s Future,’ updated to reflect the dramatic decline in our economic and fiscal condition since 2008. The Roadmap fulfills the mission of health and retirement security, lifts the crushing burden of debt, and promotes jobs and competitiveness in the 21st century global economy.
“We all want to boost job creation and get this economy growing again. Unfortunately, the agenda moving through Washington moves us in the wrong direction. There are honest disagreements on how to meet these challenges. I stand ready to work together to chart a different course forward and advance common sense solutions.”
Feb 5, 2010 at 6:11 a.m.
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lindaf: yeah the last six years of the previous administration had a democratic majority in both houses so I guess we can't hold them responsible. Did you know that Congress holds the purse springs--not the president? How long should we give the same group? Two years, three years, four years? This administration has tripled our national debt, bowed and scraped to our enemies (and it's working, right?) oh I forgot, we need to give them more time to take us further under. We need to work together (both sides of the aisle) to get ALL the entrenched no-good politicians out of Washington and Madison, as both cities are cesspools. Are there any clean principled politicians out there?
Feb 1, 2010 at 9:58 p.m.
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all i can say is--lets not judge the man with only a year under his belt. He will need alot longer than that to fix what has been broken in the last 8 years!!!!!
Jan 30, 2010 at 5:57 a.m.
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I thought his bashing of the Supreme Court as they sat there in the front row was very tacky and rude. Watching Pelosi and Biden was funny. He didn't talk much about keeping our country safe from "terroists" a word he doesn't like to use. I have to admit I have seen and heard him so much on tv that all his speeches start to sound alike. He is in over his head. I'm not sure he can pull it all off.
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