WASHINGTON (January 27) - Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) issued the following statement regarding President Obama's State of the Union address. 

"The modest steps towards deficit reduction are welcome, but we need to be even bolder.  Most people in Alabama feel the federal government is too big now, it spends too much, and it doesn't solve a lot of problems. 

"The President has a serious decision to make on whether to listen to the American people and keep his campaign promise to run an open and bipartisan dialogue.  We've seen nothing but backroom deals with the stimulus, health care, and cap and tax.  We absolutely do need to sit down and work together on reducing the debt, getting the economy going, and reforming health care but one thing we have learned during the past year is that big government solutions don't work and they often make things worse."