Hoyer: President Has Failed to Meet the Priorities of Average Maryland Families

Hoyer: President Has Failed to Meet the Priorities of Average Maryland Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, January 31, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) released the following statement tonight responding to President Bush's State of the Union Address:

"Tonight, President Bush said many things that virtually all Marylanders can agree with - that we must make our nation more secure, that we must expand access to health insurance and reduce costs, that we must break our nation's dependence on foreign oil, and that we must restore fiscal discipline. But recognizing these problems and offering real solutions -- as Maryland families know -- are two entirely different things.

"The fact is, the President and the Republican Congress - who have been in complete control in Washington for the last five years - have failed to fight for priorities that reflect the interests and values of Maryland families.

"During President Bush's tenure, Maryland has lost 34,600 manufacturing jobs, gas prices have increased by $1.14 a gallon, and 230,000 people have lost their health insurance since 2000.

"The President made some positive recommendations. I support his effort to be energy independent. I also welcome his commitment to educate more math and science teachers and to encourage students to pursue those courses. That is critical for our future. I hope, too, that his intention to address the funding challenges to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is genuine. He did not do that last year with Social Security and the country emphatically rejected his effort to partially privatize that critical program. But, nowhere in his speech did he suggest how he was going to pay for the initiatives he proposed.

"I am perhaps most disappointed at the President's refusal to acknowledge that his policies have instigated historic deficit and debt. The Administration and Congressional Republicans have pursued the most irresponsible fiscal policies in the history of our nation, turning a projected $5.6 trillion surplus into a $4 trillion deficit.

"As a result, the share of the debt for every man, woman, and child in Maryland now stands at $27,000.

"Yet tonight, the President essentially announced that he wants to perpetuate this debilitating spiral of deficits and debt by making his tax cuts permanent, while offering no plan to pay for them.

"And tomorrow, Republicans will bring forward a budget plan that increases the deficit by over $100 billion, and cuts critical assistance for students, seniors, and Maryland families in need.

"Democrats will continue to fight for the average Maryland family. We will make our state and nation safer by enacting the 9/11 Commission reforms, restoring common-sense budget rules and balancing the budget, fighting for tax reform and simplification, and ending America's dependence on foreign oil."

http://www.hoyer.house.gov/newsroom/index.asp?ID=578&DocumentType=Press+Release