Washington, D.C. – Representative Heath Shuler released the following statement this
morning regarding President Bush’s State of the Union address.
“Tonight we heard the President call for a bipartisan solution to the illegal immigration
crisis facing our nation that upholds both our laws and our ideals. The SAVE Act, which
I authored last year, offers the House the opportunity to meet the President’s challenge.
This legislation respects our nation’s history and heritage, while enforcing our existing
laws. That is why Democrats and Republicans, 135 in all, have put aside partisan
differences and co-sponsored this bill. Now, the whole House must act on this bipartisan,
commonsense solution.”
“I was also pleased to hear the President say tonight that he is joining the fight for
earmark reform that Democrats in the House have been leading. We stopped all earmarks
from the FY 2007 budget because the process had not been reformed and still lacked
transparency. This Congress then brought accountability to the process and then reduced
the total numbers of earmarks by 43% when compared to the FY 2006 budget. I look
forward to working with members of both parties and the President to continuing
bringing transparency and accountability to the budget process.”
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Download: Congressman Heath Shuler’s Statement on the President’s State of the Union Address