Vitter Reacts To State Of The Union Address
(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Sen. David Vitter made the following statement in reaction to the president’s State of the Union address:
“The reaction to the speech in the chamber was the most muted I've ever seen. I think it's because folks know that bipartisan symbols and pretty speeches are nice, but what really matters to Louisianians is the follow-through.
“What we need from the president is a major policy shift, not just new rhetoric.
“President Obama’s five-year spending freeze now must be put in context of the last two years of outrageous increases we’ve experienced. We've had a nearly $600 billion increase in spending in the last two years, and our debt shot up $3 trillion. When put in that context, this freeze is not meaningful.
“I certainly welcome the president talking about making America competitive. If he's serious about that, he'll lift the de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf and stop growing bureaucracy and regulation. President Obama still has the Gulf of Mexico virtually shut down to oil and gas activity nine months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and onshore, federal permitting for domestic energy resources has been reduced by a whopping 79 percent since he took office.
“I believe it is also important to note that the president mentioned ‘invest’ or ‘investment’ a combined thirteen times. He called the bloated stimulus bill an investment; if past is prologue, I fear this is code for more spending,” said Vitter.
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