Washington, D.C. – Senator Ron Johnson (WI) delivered the following remarks in response to the President’s State of the Union address:

“On September 30, 1987, our total federal debt was $2.3 trillion. It took our ancestors over 200 years to accumulate that much debt. Last year, Washington passed an agreement that will increase the debt ceiling by another $2.1 trillion, and we’ll blow through that in less than two years 

“Today marks 1,000 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate has passed a budget. Last year, President Obama’s budget was so unserious; it lost in the United States Senate by a vote of ZERO to 97. Not one member of the President’s own party voted for his budget, and he put no pressure on Senate Democrats to pass one of their own. As a result, the largest financial entity in the world, our $3.6 trillion federal government, is running totally out of control.

“On the single greatest threat currently facing America, our unsustainable deficit spending and growing debt, President Obama and his party have shown absolutely no leadership. Instead, the man who said he would unite us has purposely sought to divide us by pitting one group of Americans against another.

“In his efforts to divert attention away from his miserable economic record, he is targeting scapegoats in order to blame anyone but himself and his policies. He fully understands the ugly division he is sowing in America, but his willingness to do so demonstrates his lack of good will in working with those of us who genuinely want to solve our fiscal problems.

“President Obama is talented at giving a good speech, but his actions speak far louder than his words. He says he wants to create jobs, invest in shovel ready infrastructure projects, and reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil. But then he kills the Keystone XL pipeline, and the 20,000 jobs and $20 billion of private sector infrastructure spending that died with it.

“In the year ahead, Americans will have a choice. Do we want to follow President Obama down his path of bigger government, unsustainable debt, higher taxes and energy costs, a government takeover of healthcare, and anemic economic growth? Or, do we want to put our nation on a path toward true prosperity and economic security?

“That prosperity can only be achieved by growing our economy though the private sector, reducing Washington's spending and over regulation, maximizing our domestic energy resources, repealing Obamacare, and enacting common sense, pro-growth tax reform.

“It is time for America to choose.”

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