Baucus Responds to State of the Union Address

Baucus praises President’s plan to create jobs and control the deficit

Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) issued the following statement tonight on President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Baucus applauded the President’s commitment to creating jobs, controlling the deficit and passing health care reform legislation.

“Working families in Montana and across the country are struggling with an economy that isn’t creating the jobs Americans need or the opportunities they want, and tonight we heard a continued commitment to building the middle-class economy. We need to act to help small businesses grow, to create jobs producing new forms of energy and put Americans to work rebuilding infrastructure like our highways, bridges and water systems. I applaud the President’s dedication to bring new hope to our economy. In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pursue targeted tax cuts that fulfill the President’s goals of strengthening the middle class, bolstering our economy and creating American jobs.

“We will also work with President Obama to pass comprehensive health care reform that lifts the burden of skyrocketing health care costs off of American families, businesses and our federal deficits. Health care costs are growing far faster than our economy and, as a result, slowing our economic recovery. When a strong bill that lowers health care costs becomes law, businesses will be better able to hire and invest, families will be better able to protect their savings and the federal deficit will shrink. Health reform helps fulfill the promise to get our economy back on track.

“Health reform also represents a critical component in our effort to combat a decade of ballooning federal debt. Health reform will cut the deficit by more than $100 billion in the first ten years and by hundreds of billions more in the decade that follows. Reducing the federal debt is critical to a strong and vibrant economy, and we stand with President Obama in our shared commitment to tackle this challenge head on.”

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