Stewart's Statement on the State of the Union Address

Statement

Rep. Chris Stewart (UT-02), issued the following statement after President Obama gave his 2013 State of the Union address:

"Tonight, President Obama addressed our country with an aggressive speech, laying out his liberal agenda. While I may not have agreed with much of his speech, he is right about one thing--we need to work together to cut spending and spur our economy. He encouraged the nation to work together to find solutions to decrease the deficit and find fiscal sanity. It's critical that we find bi-partisan solutions. Unfortunately, President Obama didn't offer a concrete plan to an economic recovery, and his past approaches have not been effective."

"There are still 22.7 million Americans that are unemployed or underemployed. $5.9 trillion has been added to the national debt since the President took office. The sequestration, which may cause devastating budgets cuts at the end of the month, was in fact proposed by the President himself as part of the 2011 debt deal. House Republicans are committed to get spending under control. And we have long said there's a better way to cut spending than the proposed sequestration."

"My hope for this year is that we grow the economy, expand opportunity and prosperity, and ensure that America maintains its leading role in the world with a strong national defense. To do that, we need to budget and spend responsibly. I hope President Obama follows through with his promises of bi-partisanship. We need him to show leadership. We've all heard the flowery speeches in the past, but at the end of the day we need more than just speeches to turn our nation around. We need the President to demonstrate an understanding of the nation's need to balance our budget and get us on a path to fiscal sanity."

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