Flores Statement on the State of the Union Address

Statement

U.S. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) issued the following statement in response to President Obama's State of the Union address:

"President Obama's State of the Union speech failed to address several key problems faced by our country. The most important of these is that his policies have created the weakest economic recovery in the seven decades since the Great Depression. This has resulted in stubbornly high unemployment and the lowest labor force participation rate since Jimmy Carter's presidency. In addition, his polices have caused a huge decline in the economic opportunities for hardworking Americans and moved millions of families into poverty and onto food stamps. In a nutshell, his administration has dramatically increased income inequality while reducing economic opportunity. If the president had adopted economic policies similar to those of President Reagan, our country's economy would have grown much faster and would have put over seven million more Americans back to work.

"The president has made it clear that he wants this to be a "Year of Action'. Given the president's track record of delivering broken promises to the American people, it is easy to see why he wants to make this declaration. There is no question that action must be taken to get Americans back to work, improve our economy, reduce our deficit and to develop solutions for American energy security. If the president is serious about helping improve the lives of hardworking Americans he should join House Republican efforts to make the federal government more efficient and accountable, provide commonsense health care solutions, reform federal spending, simply the tax code, reign in out of control federal regulatory bureaucrats and reform our broken immigration system.

"The president's threats to use unilateral presidential authority and sidestep Congress to move forward with his own agenda are worrisome and problematic. Over the last couple of months, Congress has shown that both bodies have been able to come together to pass bipartisan legislation for the good of our nation. Bypassing Congress with the pen should not be how laws are made; rather the president should follow the Constitution and work with Congress to bring real solutions through a collaborative process.

"If the president is sincere about taking action, he must start by addressing the failures of Obamacare -- which is opposed by a large and growing majority of Americans. Obamacare continues to fail in its primary goals of controlling costs, providing greater access to health care and allowing Americans to keep their current health care coverage. We must work to repeal and replace this ill-conceived law with reforms that increase access to health care, lower costs, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and give American consumers a say in their health care.

"Throughout the 113th Congress, the House has taken action to pass dozens of jobs bills, which sit idle over in the Senate. If action is what the president is seeking, then it is time he push his party's colleagues in the Senate to take up these House-passed jobs bills, which include my Protecting States' Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act. House Republicans have been, and remain committed to, creating jobs and better paychecks for Americans through economic growth, improving education and job training programs, reducing red tape and promoting domestic energy production. Most Americans know that more "Main Street" jobs and better paychecks are the ladders to greater economic opportunity for hardworking families -- not more big government, bureaucratically driven solutions. The president would be well served to work with Congress on proven solutions versus trying to continue his failed economic policies.

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