U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe
“Tonight we heard President Obama emphasize the importance of building and supporting a strong American middle class, one that gives opportunity for all to achieve the American dream. Tonight, Ms. Susan Bumgarner, an exceptional teacher from my state of Oklahoma, from Norman, Oklahoma, sat in a seat of honor with the First Lady. As a teacher, Susan plays one of the most important roles in helping young Americans someday achieve this dream. As for the President, his four-year record on quenching these opportunities speaks louder than his rhetoric tonight.
“If Washington is serious about job creation and a strong middle class, the President should look to my home state of Oklahoma. Our unemployment rate has remained near full employment. Why? It’s because of our thriving energy sector, an industry the President is attempting to kill with his liberal climate change agenda and his relentless war on fossil fuels.
“In this Congress, I will do everything in my power to help America achieve domestic energy independence. And we can do it today. Americans shouldn’t be sending $300 billion a year to the Middle East to buy oil. Instead we can invest that money here at home – in America, in Oklahoma. Natural gas is a resource already doing this for us in Oklahoma. The President likes to boast that more fossil fuels are being produced now than under his predecessor, but this is only because of the hard work of the private sector. Meanwhile the President has all but stopped development of energy on the public lands.
“While his climate change agenda may sound good, it will ultimately result in the regulation of everything from hydraulic fracturing to greenhouse gases. Over regulation is killing us. This is why I am writing legislation that will require the Administration to disclose studies of how each of their rules will impact our energy independence.
“Tonight, we also heard the President briefly address gun control. His agenda on this issue is a disaster. As Congress contemplates new legislation, I will oppose anything that further restricts the Second Amendment or its contribution to the free exercise of all our constitutional rights. Why disarm America while the criminal element keeps their guns? – They will anyway.
“In closing, I was disappointed to hear little from President Obama on the looming deadline of March 1st, a date when $492 billion in cuts to the military will go into effect due to his sequestration. The President’s disarming of America is the greatest threat we face today.
“Over the past four years, the President’s non-defense spending has increased by 30 percent, while our military men and women have absorbed $600 billion in defense cuts – which will soon total to nearly $1 trillion. For 14 months, Congress has repeatedly requested the Administration provide a detailed assessment of the impact these defense cuts will have to our national security. Yet they have failed to deliver. We are now 16 days away from cancelled deployments, thousands of lost jobs, up to 26,000 furloughs in Oklahoma, and the imminent threat of a hollow military force unable to respond to an increasingly dangerous world.
“I am doing all that I can to prevent these devastating defense cuts, as seen in recent legislation I introduced with my fellow Republican colleagues. We can fix this.
“The Administration’s policies of tax increases, government expansion, American disarmament, and over regulation aren’t working. As your Senator, I will continue to fight for legislation that will grow the middle class, unleash the American dream, and invigorate our economy. A glimpse into our nation’s history shows us the path forward. It’s not that difficult. All we’re asking for is energy independence, a strong military, and secure borders.
“On behalf of my 20 kids and grandkids, we’ve got a country to save, and I’m going to try to do it.”
U.S. Congressman Tom Cole
"President Obama's assessment of the state of our union fails to appreciate the gravity of our economic challenges."
"Debt reduction is the defining issue of this decade, yet the president continues to avoid proposing serious, specific solutions. Instead of taking the opportunity to be honest with the American people about the magnitude of our fiscal challenges and the danger they pose to Medicare and Social Security, President Obama largely ignored tough issues in favor of 'modest reform' ideas and false promises that require spending we can't afford."
"In the short term, I was disappointed that the president failed to address the immediate challenge of the across-the-board cuts in government spending known as sequester. His failure to lead in this area by proposing meaningful reductions in mandatory spending puts the jobs of thousands of Oklahomans at risk."
"The best way to strengthen the economy and create jobs is to reduce the deficit through tax reform, spending restraint and entitlement reforms. President Obama needs to understand that the
campaign is over and it's time to show political courage and work with House Republicans to achieve real progress on balancing the budget."
U.S. Congressman Frank Lucas
“Tonight President Obama laid out his agenda for his second term in office and once again focused his State of the Union address on our nation’s ailing economy. "The President has addressed the same concerns in past speeches; however, he has failed to put a plan in motion that gets our country moving in the right direction. I hope this time he is serious about pursuing a plan to get our economy back on solid ground.
“In order to improve the economy, President Obama must realize the federal government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. The president has added $5.9 trillion to the national debt since he took office in 2009. The only way to get a grip on this tremendous debt problem is to make significant spending cuts. Raising taxes on hard-working American families is not the solution to tackling our nation’s $16.5 trillion national deficit.
“Additionally, I was disappointed President Obama failed to present a plan to prevent sequestration from going into effect in the coming months. While we are still fighting a war in Afghanistan, our country cannot allow harmful spending cuts to our national defense."
"In Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District, we have Altus and Vance Air Force Bases, which both play a vital role in protecting the United States. Our country depends on these military installments and a strong national defense to protect each and every American citizen."
"We must do everything possible to prevent automatic cuts to our military from occurring. In the House, we have acted twice to pass legislation to replace the sequester with common-sense spending cuts, and it’s my hope the president will follow our lead to prevent defense cuts from occurring."
“Lastly, the president mentioned the need to create jobs in our country. At a time when our national unemployment is close to 8 percent, I agree work needs to be done to spur job creation in America. While Oklahoma has fared better than the rest of the nation, too many Americans are still struggling to find jobs."
"In order to create jobs in our country, we must first build a healthy economy. As a leader of Congress, I remain willing and ready to work with the president and other leaders of Congress to find commonsense ways to help build an American economy that is built to last. The American people depend on it.”
U.S Congressman Markwayne Mullin
“What I heard from the President tonight was more of the same irresponsible behavior that is taking our country to the brink of economic disaster.
The President and some members of Congress in both parties wants to increase taxes which puts the government spending pressures onto the backs of hardworking, already strapped, Americans.
Presently, the government spends $1 trillion more than it takes in, the President has failed to submit his budget on time for the fourth time in the last five years and we recently learned that the economy shrank for the first time in more than three years.
President Obama paid lip service to “reasonable compromise”. In fact, what he considers reasonable is more of the same tax and spend policies that have gotten us where we are today.
These policies undermine the core American values of hard work and accountability; and instead replace them with a mentality of government dependency.
The President talked about spending more money to create jobs. The reality is that government doesn’t create real jobs. Real jobs are created in the private sector, and no amount of throwing the money we absolutely don’t have into government-funded projects will result in the real job growth this country needs.
Congress and the President could learn a thing or two from Oklahoma farmers and ranchers. They are at the mercy of the weather, droughts and factors beyond their control. So they know when times are tough; you buckle down, work hard and make sacrifices, not go out and spend every penny in the piggy bank.
The President could learn from Main Street businesses across Oklahoma, who know that they must earn enough money to make payroll for their employees and to keep the lights on. They cannot endlessly borrow from the shop next door to pay their bills.
Difficult decisions are not often made willingly, but people across Oklahoma make those decisions every day. For the sake of future generations, those difficult decisions must be made NOW by our government.
Our generation is on the brink of doing something unthinkable – passing on a United States that is weaker than it was when it was entrusted to us. That is not something I can accept. The Second District sent me to Congress to do all I can to reign in Washington’s insatiable appetite for spending, and I promise to do all I can to do just that.”
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