Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to talk about the President's sixth State of the Union Address tomorrow night. Although I do not think the Framers imagined the pageantry that has come to accompany the State of the Union, it certainly is enshrined in the Constitution. According to article II, section 3:

The President shall from time to time, give the Congress information on the State of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

"Recommend for Congress consideration such measures''--I note with interest in today's Wall Street Journal on the front page that President Obama intends to assert a unilateral agenda at the State of the Union, according to press reports, at least in the Wall Street Journal. The article begins:

President Barack Obama Tuesday night will seek to shift the public's souring view of his leadership.

It goes on to say in paragraph 2:

Mr. Obama will emphasize his intention to use unilateral Presidential authority, bypassing Congress when necessary, to an extent not seen in his previous State of the Union speeches.

This certainly does not sound like article II, section 3, where the State of the Union is anticipated by our Founders as an opportunity for the President to make recommendations to the Congress, but we shall see. It should not be difficult for President Obama to outline a number of national priorities that are necessary and expedient for the Congress to consider. As we enter the sixth year of the Obama administration, the economy continues to suffer from anemic growth and chronically high unemployment. Family poverty statistics are at record high levels. Small businesses, the ones that create our Nation's jobs for the most part, are struggling to pay for government mandates and keep Americans at work at the same time.

Of course, a major concern for Americans is the President's health care law, legislation that was rammed through Congress without bipartisan support. Individuals, families, businesses, and investors can plainly see that the law is plagued with problems. Hardly a day goes by without hearing from our citizens back home who are frustrated and worried about how the law impacts them.

Instead of more affordable and more accessible health care, families in my State and across the country are dealing with a backlash of canceled insurance policies, higher premiums, and fewer choices. No one can dispute these facts. At this point, Americans are right to be doubtful of more promises. They want to see results. They want to see real health care reform. They want to see job-creating strategies that will work, that have been proven to work.

Americans need more tomorrow night than phraseology from the President. Without leadership and accountability, the public is right to lack confidence that the President's big government approach can move us forward or that the President wants to work with Congress toward bipartisan solutions.

I hope we can work together for bipartisan solutions. One recent poll suggests--and this is stunning--that a majority of Americans actually question the Obama administration's competence in running the government. The same survey showed that most Americans believe the economy is either staying the same or getting worse.

I believe the American public sees things correctly. Until Americans see significant improvements in their lives, attempts by the White House to spin a positive economic message will ring hollow. Many Americans have been forced to take part-time work or have left the labor force altogether. In the December jobs report, an official report of the government, we saw that the labor force participation rate, which reflects the number of adult Americans who have a job or are looking for one, has fallen to its lowest level since 1979.

Let me repeat that. After 5 years of the Obama administration's leadership, the labor force participation rate is the worst it has been since 1978. Recent estimates indicate that median household income is almost $2,400 less than it was 4 years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

President Obama has tried to shift the blame for the harm caused by his health care law, but that attempt to duck responsibility will not wash with the American people. Millions of Americans have had their health coverage canceled, even though the President repeatedly promised: If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. Oftentimes he punctuated that with "..... you can keep your health care plan, period.''

The President recently said he regrets that Americans find themselves in that situation. Americans find themselves in that situation because of the health care law which he rammed through Congress on a strictly partisan basis. They find themselves in that situation because they were told a very flat and emphatic statement by the President of the United States, the leader of the free world. That emphatic direct statement turned out not to be the case.

Americans are uncertain of how they will afford significantly higher premiums. Employers are facing costly mandates. Now we learned at the end of last week that Moody's has downgraded the economic outlook for health insurers, citing the law's difficult implementation and the administration's numerous delays. So Moody's downgraded the outlook of these health insurers that are trying to make the law work.

As the country's chief executive, the President should start a dialogue in his State of the Union speech tomorrow night that focuses on ways to empower Americans to create jobs and opportunities. This body is controlled by the Democrats. The other body is controlled by the Republicans. We need bipartisan solutions to create jobs and opportunities. We have seen a big government approach with more burdensome regulations and more bureaucratic intrusions. We have seen how that approach does not work.

The State of the Union offers the President an opportunity to outline issues where he is willing to work with Republicans in a bipartisan way. We should be talking about market-driven strategies to reform health care. We should be talking about the Keystone XL Pipeline and how to advance America's rich energy potential, the most abundant energy sources in the world right here in America. Keystone XL Pipeline would be a jobs win for the Obama administration. Yet the President cannot bring himself to come forward on this bipartisan idea.

Of course the best welfare program is a jobs program. The best unemployment program is one that creates jobs for Americans. Americans are ready to go to work. Rather than focus on the politics of jealousy and income inequality, the President should demonstrate leadership and cooperation. In a divided government, both leadership and cooperation are needed to bring about the enduring economic recovery this country needs.

I look forward to the President's address tomorrow night and hope we can hear bipartisan solutions to move us forward.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source