Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) Reaction to President Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address
Washington,
Feb 2, 2005 -
The following is a statement from Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) on his reaction to President Bush’s 2005 State of the Union Address:
“The President’s speech tonight fell short in a number of key areas.
First and most importantly, there wasn’t a lot of discussion about how we are going to get back to a fiscally responsible federal government. This year’s deficit could reach over $420 billion and while the President mouthed support for fiscal responsibility, he gave no ideas about how he was going to curb his spending and tax cuts.
Clearly, his most important domestic priority is reforming Social Security, yet he did not give details of his plan; a plan that would cost upwards of $2 trillion for private accounts. In the long term, the impact on our economy, in fact the world economy, will be hurt if we don’t balance our books. The President’s plan on social security will place in jeopardy the core purpose of Social Security: provide seniors in this country with a guaranteed benefit. While social security is not meant to be the sole means of one’s retirement, at the end of the day, it must be there as the constant part of a diversified portfolio that can include investments in stocks, bonds and other forms of investment.”
