Representative Steve Southerland, II issued the following statement this evening in response to President Obama's jobs address to a joint session of Congress:
"Tonight, I was hopeful that the President would offer new, common sense solutions that would make conditions right for job creation and economic growth. Instead, he offered many of the same failed policies from the past two-and-a-half years while stubbornly prodding the American people to "look beyond the immediate crisis.' While I certainly agree that we need to fix our fiscal future, I am disappointed that the President appears to have moved on without recognizing some of the troubling factors that got us into this mess.
"The President offered mountains of new spending and then told the American people we can figure out how to pay for it later. He threatened to hike taxes on America's job creators at a time when our economy can least afford it. And he spent just a few short sentences discussing the job-crushing impact of government over-regulation, but then failed to provide solutions to eliminate the uncertainty that these regulations have created.
"I've joined my House Republican colleagues in offering several proposals to improve conditions for job creation and jumpstart an economic recovery. I stand ready and willing to find common ground with the President once he presents a plan that rises to the historic level of the economic challenges we face."