Franks: State of the Union Address Marks One Year of Failed Obama Policies

Franks: State of the Union Address Marks One Year of Failed Obama Policies

January 27, 2010 - Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) released the following statement in response to tonight's State of the Union Address:

"Tonight, President Obama spent much of his State of the
Union address discussing the state of the American economy. Among the speech's most widely-discussed points is the President's proposal of a three-year spending freeze on non-defense discretionary spending. To those, like me, who are opponents of the wildly out-of-control government spending that has characterized the current Administration and Democrat-controlled Congress, a
freeze on spending sounds like a great idea, on its face.

Unfortunately, the President's proposal is little more than a symbolic gesture intended to play well in the media, as evidenced by the fact that the freeze would only account for $15 billion this year, despite a deficit that this Administration has sent soaring to record levels in excess of $1.3 trillion.

Ultimately, a spending freeze is a step in the right direction, but it is not nearly enough to right the ship of fiscal irresponsibility in Washington, D.C. It is President Obama's own economic policies that are on track to add over $14 trillion to our national debt over the next ten years. Until the root problem of such negligent spending is fixed, the President's short-sighted proposals will do little to nothing to fix the economy that his own policies have helped break.

Tonight, the President also mentioned the security challenges, including two ongoing wars, that face our nation. Over the past
year, while the President has been spending taxpayers' money at a pace unprecedented in the history of our nation, his approach to national security has unfortunately not been any better. Despite the understandable concern of the American people, this Administration has discussed moving the terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay onto American soil and has decided to give the architect
behind the 9/11 attacks the benefit of a civilian trial.

And even tonight, a belligerent, radical Iranian regime that has called for attacks on the United States and Israel continues to work toward the acquisition of a nuclear capability without the concern of serious opposition from the United States, since just a few short months ago, President Obama scrapped the European Missile Shield that represented America's most effective deterrent against an intercontinental ballistic missile attack.

This is the 'State of the Union' after the first year of the Obama Administration : deeper debt, millions of jobs lost, record deficits, unparalleled spending, and a homeland that is less safe. I sincerely hope the beginning of 2010 marks the end of these out-of-touch, failed policies.

Congressman Franks is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, Military Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, Constitution Subcommittee, and is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.