Nunnelee Responds to State of the Union Address

Statement

Tonight, Congressman Alan Nunnelee issued the following statement in response to President Obama's State of the Union address.

"I appreciate the President's call for bipartisanship and his emphasis on creating jobs. However, he has yet to take a serious stance on a plan to reign in the national debt and present a strategy for real spending reform.

"My concerns lie in his so-called "investments' in innovation, infrastructure and education. In Washington speak, investments mean spending. These are the same type of investments that made up the failed stimulus package. We've already been down this road and the stimulus spending failed - failed to create jobs and helped raise the national debt to a record $14 trillion.

"We need to invest in our future generations by relieving them of the insurmountable amount of debt they will inherit due to the government's thoughtless spending. The harsh reality is that we are leaving our children and grandchildren with a burden that they will not be able to lift - one that will paralyze them and deprive them of the American dream that previous generations of Americans have enjoyed.

"Americans have been suffering from an unemployment rate at a staggering 9% for the past 20 months, and Mississippians are feeling the pain of an unemployment rate hovering around 10%. Our families are not encouraged by the President's failed investments. What our families want is a sense of certainty that comes only from knowing that Washington is moving out of the way and opening the door for the private sector to flourish.

"I was not sent to Washington to endorse unnecessary new spending proposals. This is a step in the wrong direction and a path that leads to nowhere.The President has overseen the most fiscally irresponsible period in the history of this nation and we simply cannot afford to follow his lead. Tonight's speech is a continuation of the same rhetoric we have heard over the past two years. In two weeks the President will submit his budget and then we will see if his actions speak louder than his words," concluded Nunnelee.

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