Recent Press Releases

Thune Reacts to President Obama’s Final State of the Union Address

“South Dakotans don’t want to hear about President Obama’s legacy or policies that haven’t worked – we want to hear about what he’s going to do in his remaining months in office to help fix the problems that have plagued seven years of his presidency.”

January 13, 2016

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) provided the following reaction after President Obama delivered his seventh and final State of the Union address:

“For the seventh year in a row, President Obama used his State of the Union address to lecture the American people about the failed top-down, government-knows-best policies that have come to define his presidency and have given us a stagnant economy, a smaller labor force, and a more chaotic world scene. 

“South Dakotans don’t want to hear about President Obama’s legacy or policies that haven’t worked – what we want to hear is what he’s going to do in his remaining months in office to help fix the problems that have plagued seven years of his presidency.

“Last year at this time, I promised you that Republicans would turn Congress’ focus back to the American people’s top priorities, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve fought to make our economy stronger, our government more efficient and accountable, and our nation and our world safer and more secure. But there’s more work to be done, and we need a partner in the White House who’s at least willing to meet us halfway.

“Rather than the ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ attitude that we’ve come to know from President Obama, my hope is that he spends 2016 working with Republicans in Congress to help move America toward a brighter tomorrow.

“The new approach that Republicans have worked hard to help to advance in just the first year of the new Republican majority is a positive start, and we will continue that fight whether President Obama joins us or not.”