NM politicians share thoughts on Obama’s speech

Here are the statements I have received about President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address from New Mexico politicians and candidates for office:

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.

“President Obama laid out a very strong agenda for the Congress. In the coming months, we will focus on strengthening the economy in a way that helps American families educate their children and obtain adequate and affordable health care. We’ll be working to create good jobs, including those in the clean energy sector – an area that shows great promise for New Mexico. And we’ll be adopting practices to reduce the deficit and get us back to the balanced budget we had a decade ago,” Bingaman said.

“I know that New Mexicans continue to struggle in these difficult economic times. In his speech, it was clear to me that the president understands that, as well,” he said. “That is why I believe this is the right agenda for New Mexico and the country, and I will work hard to help the president enact it.”

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

“Tonight President Obama outlined an aggressive strategy for getting our economy back on a sustainable path for growth. With initiatives like the economic recovery package, President Obama has made strides during his first year in office and our economy is stronger than it was a year ago at this time,” he said. “But as President Obama rightly acknowledged, Americans are frustrated, and understandably so. They are depending on us to make our economy work again for the middle class.”

“That means creating good-paying, stable jobs. It means new incentives to encourage entrepreneurs and support small businesses. It means expanding access to health care and creating the clean energy jobs of the future. And it means making a quality education a right and not a privilege,” Udall said. “The plans President Obama outlined tonight will help us build upon this foundation.”

“In addition to focusing on our economic recovery, keeping America safe from those who would do us harm remains a top priority – one that was underscored by last month’s Christmas Day bombing attempt. While we still face challenges in this regard, I was pleased to hear President Obama again highlight his commitment to preserving our strong national security while improving our standing around the world,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

“Despite the partisanship we’ve seen, President Obama appealed to us as Americans. He made clear that we must continue to support small businesses and provide much needed relief to working families,” Heinrich said. “I am committed to doing all that I can to strengthen our economy, reduce the deficit, and create good jobs in New Mexico.”

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.

“Over the past year, I have traveled across our state and have witnessed first-hand both the great spirit of New Mexicans and the challenges that so many are facing in a difficult economic climate,” he said. “Tonight, President Obama spoke of this spirit and these challenges. In the days ahead, we have the opportunity to renew our efforts to stand up for families, our communities, and our nation.”

“Over the past year in Congress, we have made progress towards reversing eight years of putting banks and corporations ahead of people and have begun putting our families first. We’ve passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help get our economy back on track and to make broad investments in our future,” he said. “We’ve given 95 percent of working families a tax cut and also cut taxes for small businesses, homebuyers, college students and parents. We’ve taken on credit card companies by enacting a Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights to protect New Mexican families from abusive and predatory credit practices.”

“And in the House, we’ve passed reforms to protect individuals from unfair insurance company practices such as denials based on pre-existing conditions and removed the anti-trust exemptions that insurance companies have enjoyed for too long,” Luján said. “We’ve also passed legislation to create clean energy jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and save billions of dollars to consumers over the long term.”

“In the year ahead, I hope to join with the president and my colleagues on the many important issues that remain to be addressed. We must continue to help create more American jobs by enacting the Jobs for Main Street Act that we passed in the House at the end of last year,” he said. “We must ensure that credit will be extended to small businesses and entrepreneurs to create jobs, put people back to work and rebuild our economy. We must get to the president the House’s plan to finally hold Wall Street accountable for engaging in the risky financial practices that jeopardized so many American families and lead to the bailout of the ‘too big to fail’ banks. We must make legislation I cosponsored, PAYGO, or pay-as-you-go, into law to bring needed fiscal responsibility to Washington.”

“From the conversations I’ve had across the 3rd District—with school teachers and doctors, seniors and those on active duty and our veterans—I know we share a commitment to renewing the promise of the American economy,” Luján said. “By providing the necessary investments we need to create new jobs and move our economy forward, we can empower New Mexico to recover from these difficult times. I am encouraged by the president’s vision tonight and I look forward to working with him, my colleagues, and fellow New Mexicans to address the challenges that lie ahead.”

Republican congressional candidate Steve Pearce

“The president proposed many spending programs now and savings in the future. This is the cycle that has created the deficit,” Pearce said. “We need to cut spending, not just slow it. The president must drastically change the path this Congress is going down in order to put our country back on the right track for economic stability.”

“The Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid led Democrats in Congress have spent recklessly. This Congress passed a trillion dollar stimulus that failed. Passed job killing cap and trade legislation, and most recently passed a billion dollar government takeover of health care. These are all bad policies that have moved the American economy backwards and have resulted in more jobs lost,” he said.

“Big spending and an over-reaching government will not boost the economy or create jobs. We have a national debt of over $13 trillion. Unemployment nationwide is over 10 percent, and in some areas of New Mexico close to 20 percent,” Pearce said. “Americans are struggling. Congress needs to enact policies that encourage American entrepreneurship and innovation, rebuild the manufacturing and agriculture industries, and grow our economy with bottom up policies to create jobs.”

“Let’s get our priorities in order. The focus must remain on creating jobs and tackling the deficit. Americans are watching to see that Congress acts responsibly and does not once again hijack the needs of America in favor the special interests,” he said.

Republican congressional candidate Adam Kokesh

“Americans who voted for change in 2008 should feel deeply betrayed. Obama is taking the worst of Bush’s policies and greatly expanding them,” he said. “If Bush’s policies got us into this economic mess, we need a fundamental change in the role of government in regards to the economy. More of the same will lead to even greater job losses.”

“As dissatisfaction with the results grows, voters will be looking to the GOP for something new,” Kokesh said. “This campaign is in a position to capture this sentiment with our message of real change by reexamining the role of government and asserting the primacy of inalienable human rights.”

Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Javier Gonzales

“Tonight, New Mexicans looked to the president to lay out a bold vision to help our families, create jobs and end the partisanship that has dominated Washington – and the president has succeeded on each count,” he said.

“The president’s plans include supporting New Mexicans by reducing costs of higher education, tax breaks for small businesses and supporting community banks that will help working families. And while we still have a long road ahead of us, we have made significant progress in the last year,” he said.

“Under President Obama’s leadership, great measures have been taken to strengthen our economy. We passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work. We have expanded health care to an additional four million children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP),” Gonzales said. “We passed the Recovery Act, which saved and created millions of jobs across the country and right here in New Mexico. And we have made tremendous progress towards passing meaningful health insurance reform – a fight that is not finished.”

“The president offered a hand of bipartisanship to congressional Republicans who, we hoped after a year of obstruction and hyper-partisanship, would have accepted it and pledged to work with Democrats to help turn our economy around,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Republican Party’s response echoed the same old divisive attacks and offered no real vision or solutions.”

“The president passionately told us tonight he ‘won’t quit’ on the American people or the challenges we face. Inheriting the worst economy since the Great Depression, and one that was losing between 700,000 and 800,000 jobs a month, he reminded us that change is not only difficult but sometimes it doesn’t come quickly enough,” Gonzales said. “I’m confident that under the president’s leadership, we will continue to move our economy forward and secure a better future for New Mexico families.”

Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Harvey Yates Jr.

“On the heels of a Republican victory last week in Massachusetts, tonight, President Obama tried to convince the American people that he shares their frustration concerning the current economic challenges they are facing,” Yates said. “However, what Mr. Obama fails to realize is that much of the anger felt by Americans is in direct response to the string of economically flawed policies championed by his administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.”

“While Obama can always be counted on to deliver a good speech, noticeably absent from tonight’s performance was a concrete strategy to put Americans back to work,” he said. “Since Obama took office, New Mexico has lost over 26,000 jobs – 23,000 of which were lost after the president and Congress experimented with $787 billion of taxpayer money.”

“The American people won’t be fooled. They recognize that while Mr. Obama continues to preach economic recovery, thus far, the hallmark of his administration has been to advance a costly liberal agenda which has resulted in unsustainable spending and expensive initiatives like cap-and-trade and government-run health care,” Yates said. “This just doesn’t bode well with New Mexico families who have had to cut back their own spending to weather these difficult economic times.”

Update, 3:45 p.m.

From U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M.

“Since coming to Congress, I’ve traveled every corner of my district and I’ve visited with thousands of constituents. And what I’ve found is that we share many of the same concerns, chief among them are the health of our economy, our energy future, and our nation’s debt. Tonight, we heard the president discuss many of these concerns, and I was encouraged to see a focus on the middle class, small businesses, and it’s about time we stop giving tax cuts to companies that send job overseas and start rewarding those that are creating jobs here and that are rebuilding our economy.

“I commend the president for offering the unprecedented proposal to freeze government spending without punishing our troops or our veterans. The debt is not a Republican or Democrat problem, it is our nation’s problem and it is about time Washington heard the calls to get the debt under control. That’s also why I welcome the creation of a bipartisan task force to find a long term solution for our nation’s debt – we have waited too long to get this done.

“The president’s focus on the new energy economy will be a key piece of putting America back to work, and I was especially pleased to hear him mention the need for expanded domestic production of oil and gas, and a commitment to clean nuclear power plants.

“Over the past year we have taken important steps to bring our economy back from the brink of collapse, but we have a long way to go. Moving forward, I am committed to fighting for the people of my district as I always have.”