Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel issued the following statement with regards to President Barack Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24.

“I am ready to work with President Obama to bring about the kind of change that he promised to the American people. He has done a great job in his first month in office and I expect that he will continue to do great things for our country.

“I will work with the Obama Administration to fix our broken health care system and provide health care for all Americans. I will work with him to wean America off foreign oil, to develop clean, renewable energy and to make our nation truly energy independent. I will also work with him to get our fiscal house in order after the shambles left from the previous Administration. President Obama inherited a budget with record deficits and debt after former President Bush took a $5.6 trillion surplus and left trillions of dollars in deficits – making it more difficult to address our economic crisis.

“We have already started to fix the economy by passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to save or create 3.5 million jobs and give 95% of American workers the fastest tax cut in history. We will hold bankers accountable for how they spend our money as they get credit flowing again to American families and small businesses. We will also tackle the housing crisis to keep families in their homes and keep home values from continuing to free fall.

“It is always electrifying to witness a President’s address to Congress and to the American people and I found tonight’s address by President Obama to be both memorable and historic. I pledge to work closely with him to bring about the change he promised and that America needs.”

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