Though Tim Kaine was tapped to give the official Democratic Response to President Bush's State of the Union Address, Democrats and other progressives have offered their own responses to what beltway insiders have dubbed one of the weakest performances by a Commander-in-Chief in more than two decades.
Read below the fold for comments by Senators Barack Obama, Jim Jeffords and Ted Kennedy, Representatives Barbara Lee and Jesse Jackson Jr., and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, on issues ranging from energy independence and economic growth to jobs, poverty, and health care.
I'm presenting these
sans analysis in the interest of getting them out quickly. They are being posted in the order they were received at
SenateDemocrats.net:
Governor Brian Schweitzer (D - MT):
"Reducing our dependency on foreign oil is critical for this country. I hope the President is serious about joining the efforts to make this happen."
"Clean, affordable energy such as wind power, biodiesel, and ethanol can be produced in America while adding value to agricultural products. I also believe that clean coal technologies are the bridge from the petroleum economy to the hydrogen economy of the future."
"The sad reality is that federal leadership has not made energy independence a priority," said Governor Schweitzer. "Such independence includes not only development of domestic resources including clean coal technology, but reductions in demand brought about by renewable energy development, serious conservation efforts, and commitment to funding research on hybrid and zero emissions fuel-cell vehicles and fuel cells for stationary power generation."
read Governor Schewitzer's release here.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D - IL)
"Bush is deceptive on the economy. He says he wants the economy to continue to grow by giving tax cuts to the top 1% of Americans and hope that it trickles down to the other 99%. The real state of the economy is generating slow economic growth (1.1% in the 4th quarter of 2005), historically-low job growth (4.2% unemployment when he came into office, now it's 4.9%, a 17% increase), historically-high budget deficits (he inherited a $281 billion surplus now he's running a $400 billion deficit), workers who are experiencing declining wages, more Americans in poverty, and the worst deterioration of America's fiscal situation in history (the debt is now up 44% to $8.2 trillion from $5.7 trillion when he assumed office).
"Bush is deceptive on health care. All he had to offer was more privatization schemes. The real state of health care is that we spend more money than any other industrialized nation in the world ($1.7 trillion, nearly 16% of our GDP), yet rank 37th in the world with regard to the health of our citizens. An additional 6.2 million Americans are without health insurance (out of a total of 46 million) since George Bush assumed office (or more people than 24 states and Washington, DC combined). And the Bush administration's new Medicare prescription drug plan is confusing, costly, and an unworkable disaster. Yesterday the American College of Physicians said America's primary care system is on the verge of collapsing.
read Congressman Jackson's release here.
Jim Jeffords, Vermont Senator (I - VT)
"President Bush spoke again about reducing our nation's dependence on foreign oil, but our nation is now more dependent than ever before. He spoke about a responsibility to insure the poor and elderly, but his budget forces low-income people off Medicaid and into the ranks of the uninsured. He spoke about the importance of education to compete in the global economy, but his Administration has worked to cut students' financial aid. Simply put, his record does not support his rhetoric."
read Senator Jeffords' release here.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA):
"Since President Bush took office, the number of poor people in America has grown by 17 percent, growing at a rate of more than 1 million each year. In 2002-2003 the number of children alone living in extreme poverty grew by half a million.
"This is the real state of the so-called "ownership society." And it is unacceptable. The Bush administration's zeal for cutting taxes for the wealthy while cutting the programs that reach the most vulnerable helped lay the groundwork for this disaster.
"Ideas have consequences, and the aftermath of Katrina has demonstrated the bankruptcy of the Bush administration's idea of the role of government. It was not simply the failure to respond to the hurricane in a coherent or competent manner, it was the tragic failure to acknowledge the massive structural crisis that poverty and inequality pose for our nation and the stubborn refusal to conceive of any constructive role for our government in addressing it.
"That is why I have introduced a package of three bills designed to make eradicating poverty a national priority. The first calls on the President for leadership, asking him to submit to Congress his plan for eradicating poverty. The second calls on Congress for accountability, and would require the Congressional Budget Office to report on the poverty impact of legislation pending before Congress. The third calls for establishing priorities, and would roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest five percent of Americans to help pay for poverty alleviation.
Read Barbara Lee's release here.
Senator Ted Kennedy (D - MA)
America's failure to guarantee the basic right to health care for all our citizens has been one of the great public policy failures in our history, and we must not allow that failure to continue in this new century. Our goal should be an America where no citizen of any age fears the cost of health care, and no employer stops creating jobs because of the high cost of providing health insurance.
The obvious answer is to make Medicare available to all. Can anyone doubt that Medicare has been a huge success to the senior citizens for the past 40 years in paying their hospital and doctors' bills, and the sooner we make it available to all Americans the better. My hope is that a Democratic Congress in November that will pass it and override President Bush's veto if he continues to fail to see the light.
read Senator Kennedy's release here.
Senator Barack Obama, (D - IL):
...The American people are wondering if this Administration can lead us there. Because after five years of the same timid solutions to great national challenges, Americans are more anxious about their future and more uncertain about the direction of the country we love.
They've seen their wages go down as their medical, gas, and tuition bills go up. They've seen jobs go overseas and wonder if our children will be prepared to compete in a global economy. And they've seen scandal and corruption take hold of a Washington that helps high-priced lobbyists at the expense of hardworking families.
read Senator Kennedy's release here.