Collins ‘disappointed’ in lack of solutions from State of the Union

Rep. Chris Collins, R-27, says President Barack Obama missed the opportunity to lead in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.

“Instead of talking about cutting spending, the president talked about raising taxes. Instead of talking about growing the economy, the President outlined new spending programs. And, instead of talking about creating jobs, the President proposed raising the federal minimum wage which will only have the opposite effect – killing jobs we so desperately need,” Collins said in a statement released after Obama’s speech on Tuesday night.

Collins, in a Saturday interview with The Livingston County News said he wanted to hear Obama talk about jobs, the economy and living within the means of the country while seeking out bipartisan solutions to the country’s ills.

Obama, in a 61-minute State of the Union Address, urged lawmakers to break their partisan roadblocks as “the greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next.”

“Americans don’t expect government to solve every problem,” he said. “They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can.”

The president called for increased spending to fix roads and bridges, expanding early education to every American 4-year-old and an increase in minimum wage to $9 an hour. He wants to create jobs by spending more money and insisted that lawmakers pay down the deficit through combinations of spending cuts and tax increases. He called for comprehensive tax reform “that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit.”

“The American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms, and more time expanding and hiring — a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can’t work the system and pay a lower rate than their hardworking secretaries; a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs overseas, and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America,” he said. “That’s what tax reform can deliver.”

Obama vowed none of his proposals would increase the deficit “one single dime,” but did not indicate what he expected the programs to cost or how they would be funded. Republicans, including Collins, have been critical of Democrat plans to end economic malaise have been to spend, tax and borrow more, increasing the country’s debt.

“Sometimes, there’s nothing more disappointing than when a leader misses the opportunity to lead,” Collins said.

The congressman from Clarence said Tuesday night that he remained optimistic about the country’s future.

“Despite what I failed to hear tonight in the President’s State of the Union, it is my hope that Washington will work together over the next several months to do what is necessary to put this country back on the right track,” Collins said.