The following are responses to President Obama???s 2013 State of the Union Address from members of Congress, political leaders from both parties and experts in their field:
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) chair of the House Republican Conference:
Republicans hoped the president would use the State of the Union as an opportunity to seriously talk about his plan to create jobs and grow the economy, but his plans are what we???ve heard before: more spending and higher taxes. The president showed once again that he is out of touch with the majority of hardworking Americans by not proposing a credible plan to control Washington spending and reduce our debt.
President Obama also failed to bring forward a serious replacement to his own devastating sequester. If the President does not get serious soon, his inaction will trigger dangerous, across-the-board cuts on March 1 that will hurt hardworking taxpayers across the country. The House adopted legislation twice to replace the president???s arbitrary cuts. Tonight???s speech was nicely phrased and well delivered, but now we need more than empty rhetoric. We need a plan ??? to replace his sequester, create opportunities for middle-class families, and get Americans back to work.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.):
I am pleased the president challenged us to adopt common sense gun safety legislation. I have consistently supported measures that the president mentioned including limiting magazine sizes and demanding universal background checks.
The president is right to focus our immediate attention on our economy and the need to create more jobs. Nothing would hurt our recovering economy more than sequestration or a federal government shutdown. Once we see significant and consistent economic growth and get Americans successfully back to work we can begin focusing on long-term deficit reduction. Additionally, we must close loopholes like those that benefit people who shift profits overseas and those that provide subsidies to oil companies. However, provisions that allow middle class families to deduct home mortgage interest and state and local taxes are not loopholes.
I agree with the president that we need comprehensive immigration reform, including increased border security and pathways to citizenship for the over 11 million people living and working in the United States.
And as Ranking Member on the subcommittee overseeing nonproliferation and terrorism, I appreciate the president's focus on the dangers presented by North Korea and Iran and worldwide cyber-terrorism."
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) chairman of the House Financial Services Committee:
The president???s speech tonight can be summed up in a few short words: same song, different verse. By and large, the problems we face today ??? out of control spending, high unemployment, rising health care costs, entitlement programs on a fast track to insolvency ??? are not new. Regrettably, neither are the president???s solutions to these problems.
For the past four years, the president has talked about the problems we face and promised solutions. Unfortunately, the results have failed to live up to his rhetoric.
Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union:
Senator Marco Rubio has an uncanny ability to connect our time-tested conservative values with America???s middle class families, and give voice to those struggling to make ends meet. He was inspirational to those wanting a better future for themselves and their families and constructively laid bare the mistaken efforts by President Obama and his supporters to make bigger government the solution to our problems.
Academics diagnose insanity as making the same mistakes over and over again expecting a different outcome. Under his administration, he has saddled our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars of additional debt while steering our country into the heart of greater malaise and despair. Tonight we did not hear about his plan to empower businesses and cut the bureaucratic red tape that encircles small business owners ??? the engine of our economy.
Instead, tonight we heard more about President Obama's America, where success is to become more government dependent rather than self-reliant. Where it is okay to accept mediocrity as long as we can punish those who have worked hard and succeeded. When is this insanity going to stop?
Senator Rubio had it right tonight. We yearn to defend the America our parents dreamed of for our generation. One where everyone of us has the opportunity to succeed if we try hard, play by the rules and provide for our families. An America that celebrates success rather than resents it. An America where all of our dreams are possible as long as government gets out of our way and allows us to strive to be the best we can be.
Mr. President, we can't spend our way to prosperity, we can't create opportunity by stifling innovation, we can't create wealth if we increase our taxes and we can't bring our country together if you keep dividing us. Our country needs leaders who can address the challenges of our day without labels or parties but respect for the history of our tried and true values that made America the greatest nation on earth. Mr. President, you challenged us to address how our country can prosper. We accept. There are steps we can immediately take: reduce our debt, promote investment, and lessen the burdens imposed on our small business men and women. And, most importantly, bring all of us together to achieve our common goals.???
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:
Tonight, I???d hoped to hear from the President his vision for us working together to create a better America. Instead, I heard those same old lines and repackaged ideas of spending our way into prosperity.
Investing in America isn???t about the government taking your money and investing it. It???s about you taking your money and investing it in those things that create high paying American jobs. I believe we can get there. I believe we have to get there.
To get there, we need the President working with us and the private sector, in a way that wasn???t presented tonight.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform:
President Obama began by attacking the "sequester," which would actually reduce federal government spending and was the one good idea Obama has contributed to the national debate over the last four years. Obamacare, the stimulus, and Dodd-Frank all were written and driven by the Democrat leadership in Congress. The Sequester, as liberal Washington Post writer Bob Woodward reported, was Obama's very own idea.
Otherwise, the speech was written not by his teleprompter but by his Thesaurus with the evident goal of finding as many different phrases to replace "raising taxes" and "spending" without actually using those overly clear words for his past, present and future plans.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) chairman of the House Budget Committee:
Last year, the American people chose divided government. So this year, both parties have to make it work. We need to make progress on real solutions. We need to strengthen our economy. And we need to create jobs ??? because if we don???t, we???ll have a diminished future.
We need to balance the budget. Otherwise, we???ll provoke a debt crisis. Our finances will collapse. The economy will stall. And the most vulnerable will suffer. Instead, we have to budget responsibly ??? so we can expand opportunity for everyone in this country.
I???m concerned the president doesn???t fully appreciate the challenge of our national debt ??? and its threat to our economy. Tonight, he outlined many new programs in detail. But when it came to spending restraint, he was remarkably brief. He overstated his administration???s success on this front. And he downplayed the task before us.
This isn???t a partisan issue. It???s math. Over the last four years, the national debt grew by $6 trillion, the largest increase of any presidency. But the President hasn???t changed course. For the fourth time in five years, he???s failed to submit a budget on time. And Senate Democrats haven???t passed a budget in nearly four years.
This spring, House Republicans will offer a budget ??? on time ??? as we have in the past two years. If the president wants to work together, he???ll find a willing partner in House Republicans. But he needs to get serious about the challenges ahead.???
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.): ???President Obama delivered a clear vision for strengthening the middle class and creating a foundation for long-term growth. The President outlined an agenda in which fairness is not just a principle for which to strive, but a powerful engine of growth and prosperity for all Americans. Senate Democrats stand ready to work with him to make his agenda a reality, and we are already making significant progress toward fixing our broken immigration system and addressing gun violence in our society.???
