Most recent public comments by Misc. Reactions https://nowcomment.com/users/645 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2668 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2668 Christopher Wiest, Vice president of public policy for the Rochester Business Alliance, said, "I think he hit a number of themes that will hit home with employers: The ability of the country to innovate, improving our infrastructure, the tax structure, and making the government more effective. ... We have to see the details on how he hopes to make these things happen." http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110126/NEWS01/101260359/Reaction-to-President-Obama-s-State-of-the-Union-address Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2667 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2667 Rufus McGee, a career and technical education teacher at Rochester STEM High School, said, "I'm glad that he recognizes the fact that we have to pay more attention to our students in math and sciences at an early age. ... To compete in this world, we have to gain the learning edge in the inventive sciences." http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110126/NEWS01/101260359/Reaction-to-President-Obama-s-State-of-the-Union-address Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2665 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2665 Conservative talk show host Bill Nojay said, ""It was a Rorschach test of a speech. He had something for everybody, which is not unusual. He really seemed to be reaching out to all constituencies. ...I think what you saw in the speech is what you wanted to see, whether you were for or politically against the president." http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110126/NEWS01/101260359/Reaction-to-President-Obama-s-State-of-the-Union-address Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2664 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2664 Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) said, "President Obama addressed the problem of our mounting federal debt. Congress needs to tighten its belt like families in North Carolina have had to do daily. Addressing our staggering debt must be a bipartisan priority for the 112th Congress. I support the President’s call for a five-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending, which is a start." http://www2.journalnow.com/online/2011/jan/26/us-senator-kay-r-hagans-statement-state-union-addr-ar-725884/ Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2663 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2663 Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said, "The President tonight outlined a strong vision for how our nation can win the innovation economy and ensure the next generation of American prosperity. I was pleased by his emphasis on workforce and education investments in our workers, his support for innovation, particularly for transitioning to a cleaner and more diverse energy system, and his commitment to getting America’s fiscal house in order." http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=330552 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2482 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2482 Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said, "President Obama's five-year spending freeze now must be put in context of the last two years of outrageous increases we've experienced. We've had a nearly $600 billion increase in spending in the last two years, and our debt shot up $3 trillion. When put in that context, this freeze is not meaningful." http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13908962 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2472 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2472 Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO.) said, “He didn’t quite connect with the immediate challenge. He said things no one can disagree with…the president touted initiatives as investments that all Americans would support given a more stable economic environment; appearing to be focused on education and technologies culminating 20 years down the road with little to address job creation now.” http://www.newsmagazinenetwork.com/201101262068/new Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2471 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2471 Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) said, "Our nation continues to be confronted with many tough challenges, and President Obama touched on many of these difficult issues tonight. Like the president, I believe that North Carolina and our nation can and will overcome these challenges by working together. In order to turn around our economy we must empower individuals, families, and small business, not expand the size of government and increase taxes." http://www2.journalnow.com/online/2011/jan/26/us-senator-richard-burrs-statement-president-obama-ar-725844/ Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2470 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2470 Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) said, "I applaud the president’s call for fiscal responsibility, and I could not agree more. However, these are mere words until we make the difficult choices necessary to begin paying off our enormous national debt. Calling it an investment does not change the fact it is nothing more than new spending that our nation cannot afford. The American people sent a clear message last November that they want spending to be cut, not frozen at the current, inflated levels like the president suggested tonight. We must stop the out-of-control spending in Washington or our economy will be no better off, and future generations will suffer the consequences." http://www2.journalnow.com/online/2011/jan/26/us-senator-richard-burrs-statement-president-obama-ar-725844/ Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2469 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2469 Senator John Thune (R-SD.) said, “After presiding over a staggering 21 percent spending increase during his first two years in office, the President’s proposal to simply keep spending at its current level for the next five years is too little, too late. In just two years, the government has grown at 10 times the rate of inflation. The president called for new spending, although he repeatedly called it ‘investment,’ but this is nothing more than increased Washington spending in the style of the failed stimulus.” http://www.ktiv.com/global/story.asp?s=13911242 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2463 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2463 Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said, "If your house is on fire, the first thing you do is put out the fire before you go filling out your college application form or fixing the pothole in the road or buying a new water heater and I thought the president showed a lack of urgency about the debt." http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/jan/26/republican-reaction-state-union/ Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2455 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2455 Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said, "While the President’s call for a five year spending freeze on non-security discretionary spending and ban on congressional earmarking are certainly welcome steps the right direction, words alone will neither balance our nation’s debt-ridden budget nor create jobs for the over 6.4 million Americans who have been unemployed longer than 27 weeks. It will take the Administration and all of us in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, working in tandem where possible to address the most urgent issues of our time, and this effort should start with bipartisan support for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which I have long supported." http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=c07915d4-9298-b63d-591e-af5a1bf5fe9b Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2404 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2404 Congresswoman Rosa Delauro (CT-3) said, "President Obama’s address tonight reflected our nation’s top priorities: creating jobs, strengthening our economy, and investing in our future. We need to ensure America remains competitive in the global marketplace, and I applaud the President for prioritizing investments in infrastructure, education, and innovation. I will continue to advocate for policies that create jobs for the middle class, strengthen our domestic manufacturing, and rebuild our economy to compete in the 21st century, and I have introduced legislation to this end." http://nhregister.com/articles/2011/01/25/news/doc4d3f96f32c8a4407157522.txt Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2403 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2403 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "We heard a vision for keeping America a global economic superpower by out-educating, out-innovating and out-building our competition. To get there, we’ll have to set aside our differences and reach across the aisle...Republicans should join the Democrats in looking to the future instead of fighting old battles and pressing extreme...I hope they will join us in finding common-sense solutions to the challenges we face as a nation – to rebuild our economy today, create the jobs of the future and strengthen the middle class." http://gantdaily.com/2011/01/25/obamas-state-of-the-union-mixed-reaction-from-lawmakers/ Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2402 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2402 Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said, "By emphasizing economic competitiveness, job creation, and tax reform, President Obama hit on themes that I embrace and that are music to the ears of middle class families. When our nation competes and wins on a global economic scale, it creates good-paying jobs at home, shrinks budget deficits and reduces the burden on taxpayers. This is a golden opportunity to work together and create conditions under which our businesses can grow the job market, our students can achieve and middle class taxpayers can see their paychecks grow." http://www.politickernj.com/44398/menendez-reaction-state-union-address Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2401 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2401 Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said, "He understands that our national debt is something that needs to be brought down. We need to have a concerted effort from Republicans, Democrats, Independents and all Americans to try to reduce that debt, to control the growth and spending to make sure that we build an economy in America that is based on and is sustainable on what we have and what we want to produce in the future, not on imports and oil from other countries. Not on imports." http://www.ktiv.com/global/story.asp?s=13911195 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2400 Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, " I want to make sure the president gives us spending targets and give us room to make some decisions. There shouldn't be just an across the board freeze. That's mindless. Some programs in government should not continue at all. Some need to have more money. For instance: education. We've got to make sure to put money in education so our kids and workers have a fighting chance in the 21st century economy." http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/home/Senator-Durbins-Reaction-to-State-of-the-Union-Topics-114610179.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2399 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2399 Representative Ralph M. Hall (R-Tex.) said, "Reducing the deficit, supporting free trade, attracting the best and brightest and investing in infrastructure and education are key to our recovery, and we support the president's focus on these issues as part of his innovation-driven agenda." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090_4.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2398 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2398 Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) said, "Tonight made clear that President Obama, Republicans and Democrats share a common goal of reducing debt. Unfortunately, House Republicans . . . are choosing controversial budget cuts that would privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090_3.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2397 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2397 Barry Rand, chief executive of the ARRP, said, "Tonight we heard a blueprint for how to move our country forward by investing in what works and cutting what doesn't. We heard a vision for keeping America a global economic superpower by out-educating, out-innovating and out-building our competition. . . . Republicans have a responsibility to work with us to create jobs instead of wasting time with pointless political stunts." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2396 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2396 Senator Jim Demint (R-S.C.) said, "We're pleased to hear the president acknowledge the vital importance of Social Security and the need to protect this lifeline for future generations, but we are disappointed that he . . . seeks to address this bedrock of financial security in the context of reducing a deficit it didn't cause." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2395 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2395 Senator Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) said, "Tonight's speech should have been called a State of the Stimulus, and the president should have admitted that it failed. . . . When the president says 'investment,' he means bigger federal government and higher taxes." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2394 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2394 Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said, "The president called for new spending, although he repeatedly called it 'investment.' But this is nothing more than increased Washington spending in the style of the failed stimulus." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090_2.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2393 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2393 Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said, "We applaud President Obama's call for ending oil subsidies, transitioning to a 21st-century transportation system and enforcing common-sense safeguards to protect our air and water, but we object to his attempt to redefine clean energy to include nuclear and so-called clean coal." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090_2.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2392 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2392 David Kendall, a senior fellow with the centrist think tank third way said, "Tonight, I had hoped to hear the president outline real solutions to fundamentally tackle our national debt crisis and help clear the way for urgently needed job creation. Instead, we heard him talk about more 'investment,' which is what most Floridians I know would simply call more government spending." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012508090_4.html Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2391 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2391 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said, “Leading the world in innovation must start with a strategy that fosters private investment and economic growth. . . . Absent from the president’s speech, apart from mentioning Sputnik as a metaphor, was any vision for our nation’s space agency.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2390 https://nowcomment.com/documents/1776?scroll_to=2390 Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the president’s Sputnik-like plan is to, “the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people, through which we can lead the world in innovation, secure energy independence and create clean energy jobs, and strengthen small businesses. That plan can build a broad-based prosperity that will ensure economic security for our children.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:19:16 -0500