Skip to main content

Rep. LaMalfa Comments on President Obama’s State of the Union

January 20, 2015

Washington, DC – Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) today released the following comments on the President's State of the Union Address:

This evening, the President missed an opportunity to set the tone for this new Congress to start working together across party lines to advance meaningful reforms and the solutions our country so desperately needs. Instead, we heard the same empty rhetoric that appeals exclusively to one side of the aisle to advance the exact agenda Americans voted against last November: more spending, more taxes, and more government control.

These failed and outdated policies will not solve our $18 trillion debt or encourage our uncertain economy. America already has some of the highest capital gains tax rates in the world and last year had the largest tax revenues in our history. Despite some lukewarm improvements in employment, we have a lower percentage of people working than in the Carter administration. Raising Americans' taxes will only move investment overseas where taxes are lower and inhibit domestic job growth.

Everyone agrees we need tax reform to make taxes simpler, easier, and equitable. However, instead of working with Republicans to enact responsible, comprehensive tax reform that helps all Americans, the President proposed tax hikes that will simply pay for more spending out of Washington.

I agree that our higher education system faces significant and systemic challenges, particularly skyrocketing costs that limit access and the increasing student debt too many are facing. However, the President's plan to provide two years of free community college fails to address the root of these problems, the growth of non-teaching administrative staff which divert resources from the classroom and inflate the costs of college.

In one breath the President speaks of making college more affordable for average Americans, yet in the next he announces new taxes on the savings middle income families have set aside pay for college.

We need a new vision for this country, one that reflects a bottom-up approach that puts Americans first. House Republicans are ready to work with the President to give the American people exactly what they asked for – solutions that create better opportunities for all Americans.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California's First Congressional District including, Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.

###