Rep. Harris’ Statement On The State Of The Union Address

Washington, DC – Rep. Andy Harris tonight released the following statement in response to the President’s State of the Union address to the United States Congress:

“I stand ready to work with President Obama to address the nation’s most pressing issues such as the economy, job creation and government spending. It is apparent that November’s elections have changed the course of his Presidency. The President’s new attention to jobs and fiscal discipline is the right approach, but I hope this is not just a head fake, and that his actions over the next few months will match his rhetoric. The previous Congress talked about creating an environment for long-term job growth, but relied too heavily on government programs, and failed to deliver.”

“In the first month of the 112^th Congress, I have already voted to cut trillions of dollars of reckless spending from the budget. With the passage of H.R. 2 alone – the repeal of Obamacare – we cut $2.6 trillion in new spending and reduced future deficits by $700 billion.”

“The House has also led by example; we’ve made spending cuts to our own budgets. One of our first votes was to cut our own budgets by 5 percent, a cut which saved the taxpayers $35 million each year. In addition, we changed the House rules to make it more difficult to spend and easier to lower taxes on Maryland’s middle-class families.

“Again, I stand ready to work with President Obama and Democrats in Congress on real solutions to economic growth, job creation and government spending.”