Candidates, Pols Sound Off on State of the Union

Candidates and politicians were eager to respond to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address Tuesday night and most fired off statements. Here are a few:

Lisa Wilson-Foley, Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (CT-5):

President Obama just passed up a chance to bring our country together. Instead of uniting our nation he kicked off his re-election campaign by proposing more government spending and less private sector solutions.

America is based on the freedom to pursue opportunity and happiness - where equal access to the American Dream has lead to endless forms of productivity, prosperity and risk taking.

The Republican House of Representatives has passed 30 pieces of legislation aimed at getting our economy moving again, but all have met a dead-end in the U.S. Senate.

It is a sad irony that Tuesday marks the 1,000th day since the Senate passed a federal budget. Our elected leader's primary responsibility is to pass a budget that meets the needs of our citizens. Instead, our nation faces a $15 trillion debt, a downgrading of our credit worthiness and unacceptable unemployment.

When will President Obama get serious? When will the Democrats in the U.S. Senate work with the House Republicans to meet their responsibilities? Let us hope this speech is not a continuation of the destructive politics which have poisoned the debate and divided Americans.

Voters will have a chance this fall to vote on which direction the country should take, and I am confident they will choose candidates who believe in a country that is based on hard work, investment and opportunity - not a slow decline toward government entitlement and dependency.

Rep John Larson (via Twitter):

I applaud President's vision & call for an American economy that offers sustained growth & opportunity for all Americans to succeed.

Justin Bernier, Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (CT-5):

President Obama missed an opportunity to lead tonight.  He talked about how our military uses teamwork to achieve common goals, but quickly blamed others for the grave state of our union.  That’s not real leadership.  Candidate Obama departs the capital for the campaign trail tomorrow morning.  It’s now up to the Republicans to offer voters real leadership and real solutions for moving America forward again.

Mark Greenberg, Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (CT-5):

The President’s address tonight focused on his record, so let’s take a look at his record:

He has spent and borrowed our country to the brink of foreclosure, requiring eleventh hour bailouts and increase after increase on our nation’s debt ceiling – the nation’s credit card. The Administration’s policies have spent their way to a staggering $15.2 trillion dollars on the nation’s credit card and have mortgaged our children’s future.

The President said tonight that he will build on the country’s “momentum.  But the fact is that the Obama non-stimulus package has created no new net jobs.  After more than three years, our economy is dead in the water – at an absolute standstill – while taxes and the size and cost of the federal bureaucracy have increased, all at the President’s doing and at the taxpayers’ expense.

Four years ago, the president ran on a campaign that promised change. Instead we have experienced failed economic policies and unfulfilled promises.  It’s time for a real change in Washington – a Republican change with conservative Republican fiscal values and common sense.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy:

Tonight, the President unveiled an optimistic and ambitious agenda for our country.  He called on Congress to end its partisan bickering and obstruction and pass meaningful legislation to bolster our recovery and accelerate economic growth.

I couldn’t agree more.

The President and I share a common vision for a strong and thriving economy — an economy that creates jobs and grows our middle class. In Connecticut, Democrats and Republicans have worked together to improve the lives of Connecticut residents.  We passed a far-reaching jobs package that will attract new investment and strengthen our economy.  We continue to work long and hard to stabilize our state’s finances so that future generations aren’t saddled by a staggering debt.

And we are beginning to see some improvement – unemployment is down to 8.2 percent, and in my first year as Governor we created more than 9,000 jobs, the first time in more than 3 years that Connecticut has grown jobs.  But we still have a long way to go, and we need Washington to help us get there.

The President is right, now is the time to rebuild our nation’s aging infrastructure. Now is the time to restore the United States as the best nation in the world for advanced and precision manufacturing. Now is the time to once again make our education system the envy of the world through long overdue reforms. Now is the time to restore our bargain with our citizens, that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can make it in America.

This President has challenged Washington to get it done.

We can’t wait. We shouldn’t have to wait. The time is now.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal:

This evening the President outlined a clear roadmap for our country’s success as we continue to grow our economy. The President’s proposals to support American manufacturing and small business, who are the heart of our economic recovery, reinforce much of what I hear as I meet with students and working people in Connecticut. What’s most encouraging and important about the President’s message is that it supports what we’re doing in Connecticut – building a trained workforce, doing skill education in our technical schools and our community colleges, which I have visited throughout the state. Putting people back to work has to be what we make a priority, and reinforcing our values of fairness and rewarding hard work and responsibility are key to our continued success as a nation.

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy (CT-5):

Last night, the President led his speech with a call to rebuild American manufacturing, and that’s music to my ears. American manufacturers are hiring again for the first time since the late 1990s, a fact I can attest to from speaking with manufacturers in towns all across our state. This industry is on the verge of a rebirth that will put Americans back to work, and we’ve got to ensure that Connecticut leads the way.

I’ve been working for years to support American manufacturers and to ensure that we use taxpayer dollars to create jobs here in Connecticut, and our message is breaking through. The President was crystal clear that we should be incentivizing companies to create jobs in America by making products here in America, and we’ve got to close loopholes that have rewarded companies for shipping jobs overseas. 

I strongly agree on the urgent need for tax reform that levels the playing field for American families. Millionaires should not pay less in taxes than the millions of middle class workers struggling to make ends meet. We need to ensure that these Connecticut families feel the benefits of tax relief to help rebuild America’s middle class. 

The President said, ‘This nation is great because we built it together.’ It’s time to recommit ourselves to that idea to make Connecticut and America even stronger.