Pete Sessions Responds to the State of the Union Address

For the past six years President Obama has repeated worn out liberal campaign slogans instead of putting forth common sense, realistic solutions to fix our nation’s biggest problems. Tonight’s State of the Union Address was no exception. Instead of focusing on ways to reduce our deficit, reinvigorate our economy, and get hard working Americans back to work, the President rededicated himself to the same rhetoric - higher taxes, increased spending, more debt, and additional burdensome regulations. His “Washington knows best” attitude continues to hold back our economy and leave hard working middle class American families behind.

The President’s policies have burdened our economy with onerous regulations which harm middle class families across the country. Tonight the President announced his plan to double down on his anti-family, pro-government policies by proposing $320 billion in job-destroying taxes and billions more in federal spending. President Obama fails to understand that rules and regulations do not stimulate economic growth, and higher taxes and more bureaucratic red tape do not foster job creation. Republicans understand that we need to stop growing the Washington economy and start focusing on growing America’s economy.

While the President took credit for the increase in job growth this year, he failed to take credit for wage stagnation or the shrinking American workforce. In fact, median household income has fallen 3.9% since he took office and the labor force participation rate remains at the lowest level since 1978. This underscores the fact that the President is out of touch with our economic reality. The President’s policies are taking more money out of the pockets of middle class Americans and putting it into the hands of Washington bureaucrats, which makes it increasingly difficult for American families to keep up with the expenses of daily life.

For two disastrous years in which a Democratic-controlled Congress worked with President Obama to increase spending drastically, our economy suffered. After Republicans won back the House in 2010, Republican spending victories in the last four years have helped lead to economic growth. In those four years, discretionary spending has been cut by nearly $400 billion annually and overall government spending has dropped from nearly 25% of our GDP to under 20%.

Republicans understand what it takes to increase opportunity for all Americans - more jobs and higher wages, coupled with lower health care, energy, and education costs. We have proposed numerous solutions that would inject billions of dollars into the economy, create thousands of jobs, and put our nation back on track. I have always believed that the key to a robust economy is getting Washington out of the way and letting the free-enterprise system grow and thrive. It is time for the President to put away his pen and his phone, set politics aside, and work with our new Republican Congress so that we can put American families first.