Lummis Response to President Obama's State of the Union Address

Statement

U.S. Representative Lummis (R-Wyo.) released the following statement after President Obama addressed the nation in his 2011 State of the Union Address:

"I agree with 80 percent of what President Obama says and very little of what he does. His approach is more of a command-and-control, top-heavy Washington approach where we use debt and taxes to create programs that the federal government's going to use, they believe, to create jobs. We've tried that for two years, and it hasn't worked.

"We need to return to a more robust, people-centered effort to create jobs, cutting federal regulations, reducing spending. The heavy burden, that is on the taxpayers of this country, when our national debt now has climbed above 14 trillion dollars and each individual man, woman and child's share of that is almost $45,000, is what is keeping our country's economy from growing.

"We need to cut spending, not freeze it -- as the President has suggested at the highest levels in our history. I voted today to cut spending to 2008 levels, which represents a good start. But we have a long ways to go in order to get a budget that matches our revenue, so we can grow our economy from the grass roots up, job by job, community by community, state by state. That's the way we get it done in Wyoming.

"Having served 14 years in the Wyoming Legislature, during boom periods and bust periods, I know that we can expand infrastructure development, and grow our economy during those robust times when we have high revenues. But then we have to reduce the size of government and find efficiencies at times when our revenues are decreased. That's where we are now. We need to cut up the government's credit card, and we need to protect our children and grandchildren from the unsustainable debts that this country is running up. So I would ask President Obama to work with us, the Republican Majority in the House, to cut spending, to save our children and grandchildren from the reckless debt that we're accruing, and to help us along the way-- working in a bipartisan manner to save our country-- to have a more robust economy and to create jobs all over America."

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