Congressman Holding Responds to the State of the Union

Statement

Today Congressman George Holding released the following statement in response to President Obama's State of the Union:

"The State of the Union is one of our country's oldest political traditions, established in the Constitution, and dating back to the beginning of our history as a nation. It was a time that the founders established for the President and the Congress to come together and discuss the serious challenges facing the nation.

I think most people in North Carolina know what the problems are: stagnant growth, a lack of good-paying jobs and a looming tidal wave of government debt that is poised to do long lasting damage to our economy.

We heard the President say a lot last night. He has a plan for retreat in Afghanistan, a plan for an aggressive new social agenda and a laundry list of new government programs he'd like to create. But what we didn't hear from the President was a plan to create high paying jobs for the half a million North Carolinians still looking for full time work. What we didn't hear was a plan to restore life to the housing market, which has slowed the recovery and put the financial security of millions of Americans at jeopardy. Most concerning of all: after four years in office and $6 trillion in new debt, the President has yet again failed to present a tangible plan to wean the government off its addiction to deficit spending.

Instead, the President asked us to actually increase spending. Rather than looking for places where government can be more efficient, the President wants Congress to replace planned spending cuts with new taxes, what he calls "a balanced approach." Well, that's what they may call it in Washington, but in North Carolina we call it what it is: the same tax and spend policies that big-government types have been pushing for decades. They haven't worked in the past, and won't work in the future.

I thank the President for his words, and I hope there are some areas where we can work together. But I will not be able to support his request for more taxes to fund more spending. The reality is the only way to get deficits under control is to cut spending now. And that's what we need to do."

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