Rep. Nugent Responds to the State of the Union

Statement

In response to the President's State of the Union Address, Rep. Rich Nugent (R-FL-05) released the following statement:

"The speech was a bit confused. In the same breath that he was calling for a spending freeze, he also called for a spending increase. We could probably stop right there.

"This isn't the first time the President has talked about being fiscally responsible while moving a hundred miles an hour in the opposite direction.

"In his previous address to Congress, the President called for a spending freeze, but in the two years since he's been in office, non-defense, discretionary spending is up 25%. If you include the "stimulus", it's up more than 80% since his inauguration.

"Although the President made a few gestures for cooperation with Republicans and mentioned his willingness to begin working on issues we have long said are important, the real proof will be in his actions. Several months ago, the President made a big deal about forming a debt commission and he's basically ignored their recommendations. He says he supports medical malpractice reform now, but opposed it when Republicans tried to amend his healthcare bill. He says he supports removing onerous small business provisions in Obamacare, but blocked Republicans from keeping it out in the first place.

"The President said he wants to enforce immigration laws now. Why hasn't he been doing it the last two years?

"I am happy to hear the President talk about immigration laws, regulatory reform and fiscal responsibility. I want to take him at his word. But as Ronald Reagan once said, "trust but verify". We're going to verify."

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