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SUMMIT COUNTY — U.S. Senators and congressional leaders representing Summit County disagreed on many of President George Bush’s State of the Union speech Monday night.
The President covered topics ranging from immigration to health care to the Middle East. Below are excerpts from Rep. Mark Udall, Sen. Ken Salazar and Sen. Wayne Allard.
<b>On the economy</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “We need to strengthen our economy but this will require more than a short-term economic stimulus; it will require greater focus on economic fundamentals, including restoring fiscal discipline, increasing research and development, expanding American jobs, ending a costly war in Iraq, and getting this country on a path to energy security.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “We need urgent action to keep our economy from going into the ditch. As the Senate Finance Committee moves forward this week on an economic stimulus package, I remain committed to two goals: working quickly to put money into the pockets of consumers and small businesses to get the economy moving and secondly, promoting efforts to shore up our economy in the longer term, such as strengthening business investment, investing in infrastructure, and addressing the national housing crisis.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “Hardworking taxpayers deserve to keep more of their own money to spend on their own priorities, not Washington’s priorities. Although our economy is still growing, that growth has slowed and we should pass a strong economic growth package to mitigate the risk of downturn in the economy and help prevent a recession.
<b>On the war</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “In Iraq, while the ‘surge’ of troops has brought some real improvements, our armed forces are so strained that it cannot be sustained much longer. A ‘diplomatic surge’ is needed, along with a responsible redeployment strategy like that called for by the Iraq Study Group. We also must reinforce security efforts in Afghanistan. Regarding Iran, I’ve introduced legislation (H.R. 3119) to bar military action without prior Congressional approval, and I am glad the president emphasized the importance of concerted international action and diplomacy.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “I believe that our military mission in Iraq must transition, at some point, from one of combat to one of support, with the ultimate goal of bringing our troops home. We may disagree about the number or the timing of troop draw-downs, but we all know that we cannot sustain 158,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely. It will take courage and conviction to begin to shift our mission and bring our troops home, but if Iraq is truly to stand on its own, we must take decisive action.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “The first vote I took when I arrived in Congress in 1991 pertained to a war in Iraq led by a President named Bush. As I start my final year in Congress, another President named Bush is facing a new and much greater battle to stabilize a free Iraq and win the peace. This effort has been a long and sometimes tumultuous journey. Our men and women in uniform have performed honorably and we must continue to support them. General David Petraeus has provided outstanding leadership and helped stabilize Iraq. I am extremely pleased to know that the surge is achieving results few could have imagined a year ago. The work is not finished, but progress is being made. A free Iraq will deny al Qaida a safe haven and help stabilize the Middle East.”
<b>On immigration</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “I agree with the president that both entitlement programs and immigration need urgent attention, and I am cosponsoring bipartisan legislation on each. One bill (H.R. 3654) would establish a bipartisan commission to develop legislation on entitlements. The other (H.R. 4088, the ‘SAVE’ Act) would strengthen border security and, I hope, lay the foundation for the comprehensive reform that we need.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “In regard to immigration, the President pledged to take steps to secure borders and end the counterproductive practice of playing ‘catch and release’ with illegal immigrants caught crossing the border. I support his commitment to secure our border and increase the number of border patrol agents. A secure border is a good step forward in addressing our illegal immigration problem in the United States.”
<b>On congressional spending</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “As for earmarks, I agree with President Bush that there should be more transparency and accountability in Congressional spending. That is why I have introduced legislation (H.R, 595, the ‘SLICE’ Act) to give the President a constitutionally-sound version of a line-item veto that would enable him to require Congress to take a separate vote on specific spending items, and why I am cosponsoring Rep. Jeff Flake’s bill (H.R. 631, the ‘Earmark Transparency and Accountability Act’) that would require earmarks to be in the texts of bills — not just committee reports — so that they would be open to amendments on the floor.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “After years of increasing amount and funding for earmarks under a Republican Congress and White House, the Democratic Congress supported substantial earmark reform which requires transparency by requiring bills to list all earmarks including the names of Members of Congress who requested the funding. We cut the number of earmarks by 13 percent this last year. Meanwhile, under President Bush federal spending has increased almost 50 percent and the National Debt has exploded from $5.8 trillion to over $9 trillion — an increase of approximately 55 percent.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “The President laid out proposals to reform entitlement programs and called on Congress to offer our proposals to address this massive portion of the federal budget. We cannot curb spending without taking a hard look at where we can reduce entitlement spending.”
<b>On energy</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “I was glad to hear the President again express support for reducing our dependence on oil and for moving to a new generation of clean energy technology. I will be renewing my efforts to pass a national renewable energy standard and to increase support for renewable energy and greater energy efficiency, and I hope to have the Administration’s support in that effort.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “I call on the President to support the Senate's energy tax incentives package to stimulate economic growth in the renewable energy sector. I call on the President to support a national renewable electricity standard that will put us on a path to 15 percent renewable electricity generation by 2020. I call on President Bush to renew and expand our commitment to leading the world in breakthrough energy technologies by announcing a plan to double the budget of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden over the next five years.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “... The responsible development of oil shale will be one of my top priorities over the next year, as it represents a tremendous resource to address the critical energy shortages facing our country. An environmentally conscious approach to developing this abundant resource in Colorado will provide a boost to our state and we can utilize the revenue generated to invest in our future. Setting guidelines for how to approach developing oil shale in Colorado is an obvious and necessary next step.”
<i>Ryan Slabaugh can be contacted at (970) 668-4618, or at rslabaugh@summitdaily.com</i>
The President covered topics ranging from immigration to health care to the Middle East. Below are excerpts from Rep. Mark Udall, Sen. Ken Salazar and Sen. Wayne Allard.
<b>On the economy</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “We need to strengthen our economy but this will require more than a short-term economic stimulus; it will require greater focus on economic fundamentals, including restoring fiscal discipline, increasing research and development, expanding American jobs, ending a costly war in Iraq, and getting this country on a path to energy security.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “We need urgent action to keep our economy from going into the ditch. As the Senate Finance Committee moves forward this week on an economic stimulus package, I remain committed to two goals: working quickly to put money into the pockets of consumers and small businesses to get the economy moving and secondly, promoting efforts to shore up our economy in the longer term, such as strengthening business investment, investing in infrastructure, and addressing the national housing crisis.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “Hardworking taxpayers deserve to keep more of their own money to spend on their own priorities, not Washington’s priorities. Although our economy is still growing, that growth has slowed and we should pass a strong economic growth package to mitigate the risk of downturn in the economy and help prevent a recession.
<b>On the war</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “In Iraq, while the ‘surge’ of troops has brought some real improvements, our armed forces are so strained that it cannot be sustained much longer. A ‘diplomatic surge’ is needed, along with a responsible redeployment strategy like that called for by the Iraq Study Group. We also must reinforce security efforts in Afghanistan. Regarding Iran, I’ve introduced legislation (H.R. 3119) to bar military action without prior Congressional approval, and I am glad the president emphasized the importance of concerted international action and diplomacy.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “I believe that our military mission in Iraq must transition, at some point, from one of combat to one of support, with the ultimate goal of bringing our troops home. We may disagree about the number or the timing of troop draw-downs, but we all know that we cannot sustain 158,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely. It will take courage and conviction to begin to shift our mission and bring our troops home, but if Iraq is truly to stand on its own, we must take decisive action.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “The first vote I took when I arrived in Congress in 1991 pertained to a war in Iraq led by a President named Bush. As I start my final year in Congress, another President named Bush is facing a new and much greater battle to stabilize a free Iraq and win the peace. This effort has been a long and sometimes tumultuous journey. Our men and women in uniform have performed honorably and we must continue to support them. General David Petraeus has provided outstanding leadership and helped stabilize Iraq. I am extremely pleased to know that the surge is achieving results few could have imagined a year ago. The work is not finished, but progress is being made. A free Iraq will deny al Qaida a safe haven and help stabilize the Middle East.”
<b>On immigration</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “I agree with the president that both entitlement programs and immigration need urgent attention, and I am cosponsoring bipartisan legislation on each. One bill (H.R. 3654) would establish a bipartisan commission to develop legislation on entitlements. The other (H.R. 4088, the ‘SAVE’ Act) would strengthen border security and, I hope, lay the foundation for the comprehensive reform that we need.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “In regard to immigration, the President pledged to take steps to secure borders and end the counterproductive practice of playing ‘catch and release’ with illegal immigrants caught crossing the border. I support his commitment to secure our border and increase the number of border patrol agents. A secure border is a good step forward in addressing our illegal immigration problem in the United States.”
<b>On congressional spending</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “As for earmarks, I agree with President Bush that there should be more transparency and accountability in Congressional spending. That is why I have introduced legislation (H.R, 595, the ‘SLICE’ Act) to give the President a constitutionally-sound version of a line-item veto that would enable him to require Congress to take a separate vote on specific spending items, and why I am cosponsoring Rep. Jeff Flake’s bill (H.R. 631, the ‘Earmark Transparency and Accountability Act’) that would require earmarks to be in the texts of bills — not just committee reports — so that they would be open to amendments on the floor.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “After years of increasing amount and funding for earmarks under a Republican Congress and White House, the Democratic Congress supported substantial earmark reform which requires transparency by requiring bills to list all earmarks including the names of Members of Congress who requested the funding. We cut the number of earmarks by 13 percent this last year. Meanwhile, under President Bush federal spending has increased almost 50 percent and the National Debt has exploded from $5.8 trillion to over $9 trillion — an increase of approximately 55 percent.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “The President laid out proposals to reform entitlement programs and called on Congress to offer our proposals to address this massive portion of the federal budget. We cannot curb spending without taking a hard look at where we can reduce entitlement spending.”
<b>On energy</b>
Rep. Mark Udall: “I was glad to hear the President again express support for reducing our dependence on oil and for moving to a new generation of clean energy technology. I will be renewing my efforts to pass a national renewable energy standard and to increase support for renewable energy and greater energy efficiency, and I hope to have the Administration’s support in that effort.”
Sen. Ken Salazar: “I call on the President to support the Senate's energy tax incentives package to stimulate economic growth in the renewable energy sector. I call on the President to support a national renewable electricity standard that will put us on a path to 15 percent renewable electricity generation by 2020. I call on President Bush to renew and expand our commitment to leading the world in breakthrough energy technologies by announcing a plan to double the budget of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden over the next five years.”
Sen. Wayne Allard: “... The responsible development of oil shale will be one of my top priorities over the next year, as it represents a tremendous resource to address the critical energy shortages facing our country. An environmentally conscious approach to developing this abundant resource in Colorado will provide a boost to our state and we can utilize the revenue generated to invest in our future. Setting guidelines for how to approach developing oil shale in Colorado is an obvious and necessary next step.”
<i>Ryan Slabaugh can be contacted at (970) 668-4618, or at rslabaugh@summitdaily.com</i>
