Dear Friend,

In all my town hall meetings, I hear from fellow Oregonians that they want local jobs and strong economy, that they are worried about health care costs climbing every day, and that they are concerned about the government growing bigger and bigger and spending more and more.

While the President spoke last night at the State of the Union, our national debt went up $123.5 million in just under an hour. Yet the President has yet to offer a serious and credible proposal to tackle our nation’s spending problem and balance the federal government’s budget.

He said that his proposals wouldn’t increase the deficit one dime… yet then proceeded to offer plans for dozens of new programs. How does that math add up? He also claimed that his health care law wouldn’t add one dime to the deficit… but the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that’s set to cost $1.3 trillion!

I’m disappointed that the President didn’t do more to reach across the aisle on these issues. Instead, he doubled down on his agenda from the first four years–more debt, higher taxes, and a bigger and more intrusive federal government. As a small business owner with my wife since 1986, we would never have been able to grow jobs with this plan.

 
Senator Marco Rubio, in his response to the speech, presented a positive vision of growth, opportunity, and prosperity for middle class families in Oregon and across the country. As Senator Rubio said, “Presidents in both parties – from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan – have known that our free enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity.” I think his remarks hit the nail on the head, and I’m proud to call him my ally in the Senate. Please click here to read Senator Rubio’s remarks.

What’d you think of the speeches last night? Click here to visit my Facebook page to leave your thoughts and click here to visit my website to learn about my work for Oregon.

I hope to hear from you-your thoughts help me as I work to solve local problems and get our economy going again.

 Best regards, 

Greg Walden