Given the divided Congress, we shouldn’t be surprised that the politically divided New Hampshire delegation to Washington, D.C., responded in partisan fashion to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last night.
Our three Republicans were critical; our one Democrat was supportive of the Democratic president’s address to Congress and the American people.
Frank Guinta, the Republican U.S. representative from the 1st Congressional District, said in a statement he was disappointed in the speech.
“Instead of bringing Americans together, President Obama chose to be divisive and pitted one group of people against another,” said Guinta “That’s not what a leader does; a leader unites people and inspires them to work toward a common goal. Rather than abandoning the policies that are hindering our economy, he promised more of the same. Tonight’s address was a missed opportunity.”
Republican Charlie Bass from the 2nd Congressional District called it “more of a campaign stump speech.”
"The President's disastrous policies of more spending, higher taxes, and bigger government will not jumpstart our economy or protect hardworking taxpayers. This House has made job creation its number one priority. But the President and the Democrats in the Senate don't seem to share that commitment,” he said in his statement.
Kelley Ayotte, the state’s Republican U.S. senator, said in her statement that the president “needs to back up his lofty speeches with real substantive policies to reduce our debt and create a better climate for private sector job growth.”
She said: “Today marks the 1,000th day that Congress has gone without a budget. That's unacceptable, and I'm disappointed that the president didn't offer a serious deficit reduction plan that cuts spending. In the Senate, I will continue my efforts to reduce wasteful federal spending, pass pro-growth policies to create jobs, and replace devastating cuts to the Pentagon's budget with appropriate alternative savings."
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who posted her posted her response in a video on Facebook, said Obama shares her dedication to jobs creation.
She said business creates jobs, but “government has a critical role to play in fostering the positive business climate we need to remain competitive.”
Shaheen did make an attempt at bipartisanship by sitting with Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio.
They are co-sponsors of a bill, according to Shaheen’s office, that would establish a national energy efficiency strategy to increase the use of existing energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of our economy.
“We share a conviction that working together is the best way to solve our problems. True bipartisanship has to be about more than appearances – it has to include a commitment to finding bipartisan solutions,” she said.
As the partisan to last night’s speech shows, as long as Republicans come at solving the nation’s problems from one direction and Democrats come at it from another direction, it’s hard to see at what point they intersect to get the job done.
Paul Briand is an editor for the non-partisan, non-profit Live Free or Die Alliance.
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