Congressman Goodlatte Responds To State Of The Union

“Tonight President Obama delivered his first official State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. In this tough economic climate, Americans are looking to the government for leadership.

President Obama laid out his domestic agenda for economic growth and job creation. I welcome the President’s call for fiscal discipline and hope that it represents a turning point away from the job-killing, tax-and-spend agenda pushed by the Democrat controlled Congress. I am, however, concerned that a freeze of current government spending levels, which are up more than 80% in the past two years, is going to simply lock in the out of control deficit spending levels that have been enacted, and not force Congress and the President to make the truly tough decisions to cut this excessive spending that these times call for.

Restraining federal spending is perhaps the most critical step to addressing our nation’s unemployment crisis and restoring confidence in our economy. I remain committed to working with the President and Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to focus on real solutions that will create American jobs and restore confidence in our economic future.”