Wednesday, January 21, 2015YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- President Obama’s critics say he did not appear to recognize the new political reality in Washington last night during his first State of the Union Address before a Congress now controlled by Republicans.
That new reality was made apparent to Obama when his acknowledgement that he had “no more campaigns to run” was met with applause.
“I know because I’ve won both of them,” he retorted, a reminder to opponents that he remains in office despite the results of the 2014 midterms.
Democrats and Republicans representing the Mahoning and Shenango valleys responded shortly after the president’s address ended. U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3 Pa., offered the bluntest assessment: “The president blew this opportunity,” he said in a statement .
“Tonight President Obama had a real opportunity to join America’s new Congress on common ground and commit to working with us on serious solutions that most Americans want,” Kelly said. “Instead of addressing the members of Congress that sat in front of him, he seemed to be addressing a Congress that no longer exists.”
Among Obama’s proposals that drew Kelly’s criticism was his plan to eliminate tax loopholes that encourage companies to invest abroad and allow the “top 1%” to avoid paying taxes on accumulated wealth, money then be used to help families pay for child care and send kids to college,” Obama said.
Countered Kelly, “Instead of higher taxes and an inevitably slower economy, hardworking Americans deserve common sense, pro-growth tax reform that makes our nation’s tax code fairer and simpler with lower rates.” He described as “unrealistic and unserious” the president’s proposal, which Kelly said would raise taxes by $320 billion.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, applauded Obama “for his leadership in advancing programs that prioritize the middle class,” he said in his statement.
"Many of the president’s initiatives will put money back into the pockets of our friends and neighbors,” Ryan said. “The president said we need to begin looking at child care for working families in a new way -- and I agree with him. Making quality child care affordable for middle- and lower-income families is the right thing to do, and it is also good for our economy. Whether free community college, tax breaks for middle income families, investments into additive manufacturing, building and repairing the country’s infrastructure, and investing in medical care, including new prosthetics for our veterans, we need to push these policies because they will relieve the heavy burdens and strains that come from today's downward economic pressures on wages.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio, said there’s no question that hardworking Americans are hurting but laid the blame for that at the president’s “failed policies.” as he put it.
While Johnson agreed that giving young people the opportunity to succeed is important, he took issue with Obama’s proposal to provide eligible students with free tuition at a two-year community college. “Nothing is ‘free’ as the $18 trillion national debt -- that our children and grandchildren stand to inherit – demonstrates,” he said. “Washington has to start living within its means.”
To pay for “extended education benefits,” Johnson said he hoped the president “would consider cutting the overarching bureaucracy that he expanded” or would consider opening federal lands for “responsible energy exploration” and use those royalties to pay for the proposal.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, applauded Obama for “[making] it clear that we must not reverse course on our nation’s 58 straight months of private sector job growth. “We must continue to build on this momentum while ensuring that more Americans can get ahead. We do that by growing our economy in ways that make it possible for everyone -- regardless of their zip code -- to succeed.”
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, expressed his dissatisfaction with “the empty promises and misguided policies” the president presented. “We need strong conservative leadership that puts Americans back on the path to prosperity to create more good-paying jobs, increase wages and expand opportunities for all Americans,” Portman said in a fundraising solicitation emailed following the speech.
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said Obama “oversold the manufacturing resurgence” in his speech. While 786,000 jobs have been added in manufacturing since 2010, most resulted from increased demand during the recovery and the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler, but “virtually none” from reshoring. “We’re only one-third of the way back to recovering all of the manufacturing jobs during the Great Recession,” he said.
Obama “deserves credit for effective initiatives on free community college, training, innovation hubs in manufacturing, and infrastructure,” Paul said he is “baffled” as to why Obama is pursuing a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement without addressing the issue of currency manipulation, particularly by Japan.
“By ignoring the concerns of industry, workers, and majorities of the House and Senate, he’s not only putting the TPP at risk, he’s putting a whole lot of auto jobs in the U.S. at risk, too,” he said.
Copyright 2015 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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