Michigan's political leaders comment on President Obama's speech to Congress:
“Tonight, President Obama outlined an ambitious agenda that will help put our country back on the right track. There is no doubt that times are tough, but the priorities he laid before Congress this evening will provide relief for families struggling to make ends meet and create good-paying jobs... I am focused every day on creating good-paying, middle class jobs in Michigan, and it is great to have a partner in the White House that is focused on the same goals. I will continue working with President Obama and the administration to strengthen our economy and create good-paying jobs for working families across our state.”
- U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow
“In Michigan, we really want President Obama to be successful in moving forward the bold agenda he laid out for the nation tonight. Getting America back on track economically calls for precisely such a courageous attack on the recession, health care costs, and our national budget deficit... I am ready and willing to work with the President to accomplish these goals, and encourage leaders in Congress to open up the process to provide an opportunity for bipartisan work on getting America, and especially our own state of Michigan, back on track and our working families back to work. We can do that if we stop spending like it doesn’t matter how far we run up the national debt and if we reward rather than punish small businesses for creating the jobs that are so crucial to our future economic health.”
- U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers
“President Obama clearly laid out the challenges we face as a nation as we work to recover from the current economic crisis. He was honest with the American people about the current state of our economy, the tough choices that lie ahead and the responsibility each of us has to help our country move forward... The President spoke a great deal about jobs tonight. While the 11 million unemployed Americans might find the President’s words encouraging, they also need his ideas to work. Working together with President Obama, Congress is working every day to address the economic crisis and the underlying problems in the housing and financial sectors... The vision President Obama outlined of a retooled auto industry is vital for Michigan’s economy. As with most ideas in a speech of this scope, I expect more details will be put forward in the coming days. But the fact that this sector of our economy would make such a prominent appearance in the President’s first address to Congress underscores the importance of the auto industry for the health of our entire economy...The President spoke tonight of fiscal discipline and his goal to cut our nation’s deficit in half by 2013. I am eager to see more details on his proposal when his first budget is sent to Congress later this week. In some cases, this will mean tough choices and a review of every aspect of federal spending. Congress stands ready to work with the President to accomplish this goal and help ensure our nation’s fiscal future... The challenges we face domestically have led many to forget the sacrifices being made every day by the men and women of our armed forces who are fighting in not one but two conflicts on the other side of the world. I was pleased to hear the President speak tonight of his recently-announced plan to provide our troops in Afghanistan the resources they need to complete their mission, and of his plan to drawdown troops in Iraq. I expect to hear more in the coming days of the President’s plan for an orderly withdrawal from Iraq, which will bring our troops home and redirect billions in resources to our needs here at home...Some have suggested, even before the President’s address, that his young administration is attempting to tackle too much. But the critical issues facing our country are too important to ignore. The real danger lies in doing too little.”
- U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak
“The President deserves much credit for his willingness to tackle health care reform, the budget deficit, Social Security and the recession all at once. It is a bold agenda, but these times demand bold action.... However, I worry that Democrat leaders in Congress will take that as a cue to raise taxes. The Administration has already hinted it wants to raise both investment taxes and those paid by small businesses... Let me be clear: raising taxes in a recession is absolutely the wrong direction to head in. We need to restrain federal spending and target all available resources at immediate job creation. Our failure to cut spending and prevent massive tax increases will result in further job losses and doom future generations to pay off an even larger debt... American families know too well the challenges we face and they know we cannot spend our way out of this crisis. What they are waiting for is to see how Congress will respond to the President call to not let old ideas and partisan divides stand in the way of finding new solutions... Republicans have heard and answered the President’s call. Democrat leaders, however, continue to ignore his directive. When the stimulus bill was debated, Republicans were locked out of all negotiations. Congressional Democrats, negotiating behind closed doors, turned it into a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will drive up our debt and hurt our economy in the long-run. That is in stark contrast to the Republican plan, which created twice the jobs at half the cost. Our plan was focused on tax cuts, but we were willing to compromise on spending as long as it was targeted at shovel-ready and truly stimulative projects... Just yesterday, I attended the President’s “Fiscal Responsibility Summit” at the White House. Yet, tomorrow, Speaker Pelosi will amazingly bring up a bill that spends another half trillion dollars, represents an 8.3 percent increase in spending over last year and is loaded with literally thousands of pet projects. Given this massive spending spree, it is no wonder the American public is fast losing faith that Congress can or will help their families, their farms and their businesses through this recession... I stand ready to work with the President across party lines to get our economy growing again, to lower health care costs and to bring stability back for working families. I hope the same can be said of Congressional Democrats.”
- U.S. Rep. Dave Camp
“President Obama’s vision for moving our nation forward from the tough spot we are in is promising in part because he relies on the ingenuity and shared purpose of the American people. His approach inspires confidence that we will emerge from these crises stronger than ever, and that confidence is a key ingredient in doing so. If we follow through on the President’s vision and take the steps that he outlined, I am confident that we’ll get our nation’s economy back on track.
“The President’s commitment to a vibrant domestic auto industry was very encouraging and is an important part of a comprehensive manufacturing policy that is central to our national economic recovery plan.
- U.S. Senator Carl Levin
