Below is and exerpt of Senator John Thune’s reaction to the State of the Union:
“Tonight we heard the president’s State of the Union speech and as is always the case when I hear the president speak I’m really struck by the fact that we really need to see not the rhetoric, but the action. Too often the president has said some of the right things, but unfortunately doesn’t follow up when it comes time to getting the job done.
“I’ve said this before, but what we really need in Washington right now more than anything else is presidential leadership. We cannot solve the big problems we face as a country, we can’t deal with reforming programs like Social Security and Medicare to protect them and to save them for future generations unless the president is willing to lead. We can’t get the economy growing again and adding jobs unless the president is willing to step up and lead when it comes to reforming our tax code in a way that will unleash economic growth in this country and create more jobs for middle class families. We can’t do the types of things to get our spending and debt under control unless the president is willing to work with us to find solutions that will reduce spending and debt and not pile a massive burden of debt on future generations.
“I look forward to working with the president when he gets serious about solving our nation’s problems. I hope that in the next few months we will see that he is serious. Of course, probably the best example in the last couple of years of the lack of the president’s seriousness is that his budget, when he sends it up to Capitol Hill, it gets voted on in both the House and the Senate – doesn’t receive a single vote, either from the Republicans or the Democrats. Zero. Nobody votes for the president’s budgets because they aren’t real, they aren’t serious. So it’s time for serious leadership. It’s time for the president to provide it.
“I am one of many, I believe, Republicans, here in the Congress, who stands ready and willing to work with the president to solve our nation’s problems and put us on a more sustainable fiscal path to get the economy growing again and creating jobs, raising the standard of living and the quality of life for middle class families in South Dakota. But that takes policies that will make it less expensive and less difficult for our small businesses to create jobs. If we can get our small businesses creating jobs again, we’ll get middle class families back to work, we’ll make sure we are addressing the big challenges that face this country, but it starts with putting the right policies in place to grow the economy, create jobs, and reduce America’s addiction to spending and to debt. I want to work with this president, I just hope he wants to work with us.”