Reaction to Obama's State of the Union address

1/28/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reaction to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:

“We hope the president will join us in a year of real action - by empowering people, not making their lives harder with unprecedented spending, higher taxes and fewer jobs. As Republicans, we advance these plans every day because we believe in a government that trusts people and doesn’t limit where you finish because of where you started. That is what we stand for - for an America that is every bit as compassionate as it is exceptional.” — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., in the official GOP response.

 

“The president’s willingness to take bold executive action on immigration reform is an important step, but Congress must act to take the broader, permanent action that is needed. Beyond the important result of keeping families together, immigration reform will strengthen our economy and allow law enforcement officials to focus on catching real criminals.” — Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.

 

“Americans know in their hearts that something is wrong. Much of what is wrong relates to the sense that the ‘American Dream’ is falling out of reach for far too many of us. ... We are facing an inequality crisis — one to which the president has paid lip-service, but seems uninterested in truly confronting or correcting.” — Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaking on behalf of the Tea Party Express.

 

“While the president’s policies are proving to be some of the most blunder-prone in history, the 59 state legislative chambers led by Republicans are implementing major reforms that are having a positive impact and statewide Republican officials across the nation are leading with decisive action. No matter how hard President Obama tries to claim that 2014 will be a ‘year of action’ his track record of lies to sell Obamacare and his botched leadership of a dysfunctional Washington make us hope his actions will be limited at best.” — Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.

 

“We were hopeful that President Obama would outline an ambitious new plan or offer more forms of executive relief to stop deportations. The president did not even mention a word on deportations. Although Obama had sympathetic rhetoric, we have seen this fall through before when he was not able to reform immigration in his first year as promised.” — Cesar Vargas, co-director of the Dream Action Coalition.