Labrador Statement on State of the Union

Statement

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, issued the following statement regarding President Obama's State of the Union address:

President Obama's speechmaking skills are legendary. But once again, the president seems unfazed by last November's election results that were a complete repudiation of his presidency and his liberal agenda.

He correctly states that the American economy has turned the page. But the turnaround started when Republicans took over the House four years ago and stopped his agenda. It happened in spite of him, not because of him.

He glosses over the fact that the middle class has suffered greatly during his six years in office. The president now proposes tax-and-spend policies he couldn't get passed in his first two years in office when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. For all his eloquence, he can't sell his failed left-wing policies to the American people.

During the next two years, President Obama has an opportunity to heed the model of presidents who learned from mid-term defeats and reached across the aisle. Republicans support real tax and regulatory reform, a lasting fix for our broken immigration system and tackling an $18 billion deficit that restrains long-term growth. After the showmanship and pageantry of his speech, I hope the president gets serious about solving America's problems. We're ready to work with him.

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