Carefully crafted rhetoric instead of solutions

January 28, 2012

By U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador This week marked a milestone as the United States Senate passed the 1,000th day without a budget and without a clue. Instead of passing a budget, the Senate has passed Obamacare, preferential industry bailouts and failed stimulus packages ... saddling American taxpayers with an additional $4 trillion in debt. Still, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his Democratic colleagues seem uninterested in making meaningful cuts to save this country’s financial future. After all, if you don’t have a budget, why would you care about debt? If Idaho families must live on budgets each and every day, why can’t the federal government? If Idaho families must make prudent choices and live within their means, why shouldn’t the federal government? If Idaho families must plan for their financial future, why doesn’t the federal government? On Tuesday, President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address to Congress and the nation. President Obama would like Americans to forget that he has been President for the past three years. He’d rather them recall his lofty speeches and empty promises, instead of his failed policies and the continued absence of results. During the State of the Union address, President Obama reflected upon his achievements, but his rhetoric doesn’t match up to reality. Last year, President Obama said he would work with us to ease America’s regulatory burden. Instead, he tried to regulate farm dust. He claimed that repairing infrastructure would be a top priority. Instead, he halted the largest infrastructure project in recent memory. He also promised to expand energy production. Instead, he blocked the Keystone XL Pipeline and stalled domestic drilling. President Obama proclaimed America must be “built to last.” He also pledged to end “bailouts,” “handouts” and “copouts.” For yet another year, we heard carefully crafted rhetoric instead of concrete solutions. While I appreciate President Obama’s willingness to talk about these things, I wish he would be just as willing to act on them.