SOTU - The Democratic Response

Democratic Response to

Bush’s State of the Union Address

• The Democratic-led Congress is focusing on the number-one issue for American families, re-invigorating our economy.

• Democrats are working on a bipartisan basis with President Bush and Congressional Republicans to quickly enact a fiscal stimulus package that is timely, targeted, and temporary, and provides help for Americans struggling with rising costs and the slowing economy.

• The 110^th Congress will work to strengthen our economy over the long term, building on the largest college aid expansion since the GI Bill in 1944, the first minimum wage increase in a decade, a tax cut for middle-income Americans, and an Innovation Agenda that dramatically increases the number of science, technology, engineering, and math teachers.

• We will work with the President –where possible-- to bolster the housing market and help Americans keep their homes, restore confidence in consumer goods like toys, food, and medicine, and to give our workers and employers more tools to compete in a global economy.

• The 110^th Congress will work this year to move America in a New Direction to create jobs all across our economy through improved health care, rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, creating green jobs to reduce global warming, and bringing greater innovation into American classrooms.

• The President gave no hope for an end to the war in Iraq, approaching the five-year mark, with no political reconciliation, and too great a toll on our troops, our trust, and our treasury.

• Democrats are committed to strengthening America’s national security by rebuilding our military and refocusing on the very real threats posed by Al Qaeda and other terrorists around the world.

• It is imperative for the U.S. to restore America’s moral leadership around the world.

• The President’s vision tonight may have been too small for many of the challenges we face—but his pledge to “cooperate for results” is right for the times.

Rapid Response to President Bush’s State of the Union Address 2008

Economy

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Last week, my Administration reached agreement with Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner on a robust growth package that includes tax relief for individuals and families and incentives for business investment. … This Congress must pass it as soon as possible.”

RESPONSE:

• We must act quickly to give the economy a boost – and to lessen the hardship facing American families struggling to make ends meet, in the face of rising prices for gas, home heating oil, groceries and health care.
• Signs of a weakening economy abound:  falling home prices and record high foreclosures; American families falling behind on their bills; and consumer confidence at a five-year low.
• House Democrats reached agreement last week with Republicans on a bipartisan package to provide timely, targeted and temporary stimulus to the slowing economy.
• The bipartisan House stimulus bill:

o        Puts hundreds of dollars into the hands of 117 million Americans;

o        Helps Americans in danger of losing their homes because of the mortgage crisis; and

o        Promotes small business investment, which will produce new jobs.

• We are glad that the Bush Administration has recognized the need for a stimulus package and Congress will act expeditiously to get it to the President’s desk before President’s Day. 
• Senate Democrats are now also working to develop a Senate version of a stimulus package, which may include additional measures such as unemployment insurance and nutrition assistance.

Housing

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “We must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership and empower them to weather turbulent times in the housing market.”

RESPONSE:

• The 110^th Congress has enacted new laws to aid families at risk of losing their homes – stopping taxes when families’ mortgage debt is forgiven to avoid foreclosure and expanding housing counseling for those families at-risk of losing their homes.
• The bipartisan stimulus package will expand affordable mortgage loan opportunities for families at risk of foreclosure, including a one-year increase in the FHA home loan limits and Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conforming loan limits.
• To help homeowners struggling to keep their homes, we continue to work to strengthen consumer protections against risky loans in the future and increase the supply of affordable housing across the country.
• The Bush Administration has taken some reasonable good first steps, but more must be done given the severity of the crisis we are facing.

Tax Cuts/Long Term Economic Growth

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “American families should not have to worry about the federal government taking a bigger bite out of their paychecks.  There is only one way to eliminate this uncertainty: make the tax relief permanent.”

RESPONSE:

• Making permanent tax breaks for multi-millionaires three years from now is not an economic plan for America’s future and not fiscally sustainable.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned this month against actions that would have the effect of increasing our deficit over the long term, hurting our ability to tackle long-term challenges.
• A meaningful plan to strengthen our economy will lower health care and energy costs, bolster the housing market, strengthen education for a new generation of skilled workers, strengthen American infrastructure, restore fiscal responsibility, and increase American innovation to transform our economy.
• Democrats have already passed billions of dollars in small business tax cuts and middle-income tax cuts. This year, we will build on this progress, enacting tax cuts to spur economic growth and extend middle-income tax relief.
• The President failed to lay out a plan for a permanent fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax to protect middle-income families.  

Education

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “The No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement.  It is succeeding.  And we owe it to America’s children, their parents, and their teachers to strengthen this good law.”

RESPONSE:

• We should work together – Democrats and Republicans – to create an education system that better serves every American child and brings greater innovation into every classroom.
• The 110^th Congress has already enacted key laws to improve access to and the quality of American education, including the largest investment in college aid since the GI Bill in 1944 and expanding and improving Head Start.
• No Child Left Behind must be overhauled.  Accountability measures have proven far too punitive, with no recognition for schools that have made incremental progress.  In addition, states have been given little flexibility in implementing the law’s requirements, and the President’s failure to keep his promise to fund school reform has left 3.2 million students behind.   
• This year, the 110^th Congress will also work to push innovation in the classroom address the dropout crisis in our nation’s high schools, and build on the work Congress did last year to make college more affordable for all students.  

Health Care

PRESIDENT BUSH:   “We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans…. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer.”

RESPONSE:

• On President Bush’s watch, the number of Americans without health insurance has increased by about 7 million – climbing to 47 million today.
• Health care costs have soared, up 78 percent since 2001.
• The President’s health tax proposal – the same proposal he unveiled in last year’s State of the Union – is still a step in the wrong direction.  His plan would force more workers out of the good employer-provided coverage they have now and into the individual health insurance market, where they could be denied coverage.
• In the 110^th Congress, bipartisan majorities have fought to provide health care coverage to 10 million low-income children, crucial legislation that has been vetoed twice by the President.
• Democrats are committed to making state-of-the-art health care available to all Americans.  This year, we will make critical new investments in life-saving medical research; undertake a major initiative to institute an electronic medical records system which will lower health costs and improve care; and continue to fight for health care for 10 million low-income children.  

Trade

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “We must come together, pass this agreement [the Colombia free trade agreement], and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life.”

RESPONSE:

·         Democrats are for fair trade agreements that expand opportunities for all, stand up for American workers, and open up new markets for our goods and services and are not based on abuse of workers or the environment in our trading partners.   

·         There is widespread bipartisan concern in Congress about the level of violence against workers in Colombia and the close relationship of many officials in the Colombian government with the paramilitary forces who perpetrated that violence.  Democrats want a record of concrete and sustained results before considering that free trade agreement. 

·         After 7 years of the Administration mostly sitting down on the job of enforcement, we need a trade policy that ensures tough enforcement of U.S. rights under our trade agreements.  If we want to bolster our economy, we need to ensure that countries like China are not bending the rules to promote their own exports.   

·         The Republicans blocked a short-term extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), to help ensure job training for 21st Century jobs.  We need to extend and enhance TAA and other job training programs.   

Energy/Global Warming

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Our security, our prosperity, and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil.”

RESPONSE:

• We need a plan that builds on the work of this Congress to lower vehicle emissions for the first time in 32 years with new CAFE standards, increase efficiency for buildings, lighting, and appliances, and increase clean, renewable energy -- not a return to Bush-Cheney policies that increased prices, oil company profits and our dependence on oil.
• To spur a green economy and reduce global warming, Democrats have been working to reinvest billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies to the big five oil companies into renewable energy, and extend critical tax credits for renewable energy investment.
• Global warming also demands enactment of a carbon cap and trade system -- a plan that will take significant critical steps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are pushing us closer to the brink of global climate catastrophe.  We also need a plan to make the U.S. a global leader in bringing all countries into binding agreement.  
• To reduce global warming, we believe that the President’s proposal for a Clean Technology Fund for Developing Countries, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources, is one worthwhile step.

Budget/Fiscal Responsibility

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Next week, I will send you a budget .. [that] will keep America on track for a surplus in 2012.”

RESPONSE:

• Under President Bush, the $5.6 trillion 10-year surplus he inherited as President has been turned into a $3 trillion 10-year deficit, more than a $8 trillion turn-around.  America’s national debt has skyrocketed – climbing from $5.7 trillion in 2001 to $9.2 trillion today.  
• Making the President’s tax breaks for multi-millionaires permanent and not paying for them, as he proposes, would add another $2 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years.
• In the 110^th Congress, Democrats have restored fiscal responsibility – re-imposing pay-as-you-go budget discipline for the first time this decade.
• We have also cut low-priority spending and passed a budget that balances by 2012 – unlike the President’s budget, which failed to balance.
• This year, we remain committed to fiscal responsibility -- enforcing the pay-as-you-go budget rules and continuing to restore strong congressional oversight of federal spending, to uncover and end taxpayers’ money being wasted on no-bid contracts for Halliburton and other wasteful, incompetent, or fraudulent contractors.

Earmarks

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “The people’s trust in their Government is undermined by congressional earmarks.”

RESPONSE:

• President Bush is a major earmarker himself – for example, he requested over $20 billion in earmarks in FY 2006.
• It was under the Republican rule of Congress that earmarks skyrocketed.  For example, the Labor-HHS bill went from virtually no earmarks in FY 1995, to containing $1.2 billion in FY 2006.
• Under President Bush and a Republican Congress from 2001 through 2006, as earmarks exploded, the President did nothing – failing to veto one single earmark-laden bill and failing even to criticize the Republican-controlled Congress.
• Upon taking control of Congress last year, Democrats have led the way in bringing transparency and accountability to earmarks. 
• First, Democrats put in place a one-year moratorium on earmarks for 2007 and then instituted unprecedented earmark accountability and disclosure. Members must disclose earmarks, including who benefits, and they must sign a letter certifying that they and their spouse do not have a financial interest in the earmark.
• Democrats cut the amount for earmarks by a dramatic 43 percent in the FY 2008 bills.  
• Now, we are pleased President Bush and Republicans have finally indicated that they are also interested in reforming the earmark process.  We look forward to working with the President to continue reform regarding both Presidential and Congressional earmarks.

Iraq

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “The American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago.”

RESPONSE:

• While we applaud the extraordinary performance of American troops, the surge has not succeeded in meeting its original objective:  to have the Iraqi government achieve the political reconciliation necessary to create a stable Iraq. 
• General David Petraeus has repeatedly said that there is no military solution to Iraq.
• The Iraqi government has met just 3 of the 18 benchmarks laid out by President Bush as part of the surge in January 2007.  In addition, the de-Baathification law still faces hurdles to enactment and may cause another purge of government workers.
• Sectarian tension persists throughout Iraq, and is rising between the Shiite-led Iraqi central government and the Sunni Awakening Councils.
• We have already spent half a trillion dollars on the war and 2007 was the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq – with 901 American warriors having paid the ultimate price.
• Any agreement that the Bush Administration makes this year with the Iraqi government about the long-term presence of U.S. troops in Iraq must be submitted to the Senate for ratification.
• Democrats will continue to push for a responsible end to the war, allowing us to more effectively re-focus our efforts on fighting terrorism around the world and to make America more secure.  

Electronic Surveillance

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “To protect America, we need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning.  Last year, the Congress passed legislation to do that.  Unfortunately, the Congress set the legislation to expire on February 1.  This means that if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger.”

RESPONSE:

• Democrats are committed to helping our intelligence community and ensuring that it has all of the tools it needs to keep our country safe, while also protecting Americans’ constitutional rights.
• The Democratic-led Congress has been diligent in developing this legislation.
• The House has already passed a bill, and the Senate is working to pass a bill that both protects Americans and protects our national security.
• It is irresponsible for the Bush Administration to threaten to veto a short-term extension.  The Administration and its allies in Congress need to decide if they want a political fight or a solution.
• While the Administration has attacked congressional Democrats for not completing the bill, it was Senate Republicans who last week obstructed the Senate’s efforts to quickly pass a new bill.
• We need a 30-day extension in order to allow the Senate time to complete its bill and allow time for a House-Senate conference to be completed on this critical piece of legislation. 

Global Terrorism

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Since September 11, we have taken the fight to these terrorists and extremists.  We will stay on the offense, we will keep up the pressure, and we will deliver justice to the enemies of America.”

RESPONSE:

• The Bush Administration has taken its eye off the ball. More than six years after the September 11^th attacks, Osama bin Laden remains at large and al-Qaeda remains the greatest threat to America’s national security.  All 16 U.S. intelligence agencies recently said that al-Qaeda has rebuilt to pre-9/11 levels.
• We are in danger of losing ground in Afghanistan. Violence is on the rise, foreign fighters are arriving in their highest numbers since 2001, and the Taliban and al-Qaeda are resurgent.
• Instability in Pakistan could galvanize extremists there and could strengthen al-Qaeda, which operates from a safe haven on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
• As we pursue a responsible end to the Iraq war, Democrats want to refocus our resources on serious terrorist threats around the globe, including a resurgent al-Qaeda and Taliban. 
• The first measure passed in the 110^th Congress – and finally signed into law by President Bush – fully implements the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission – common-sense measures to dramatically improve our domestic security.

U.S. Military Strength/Readiness

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “I ask the Congress to meet its responsibilities to these brave men and women by fully funding our troops.”

RESPONSE:

• When he took office in 2001, President Bush inherited a military that was fully ready to fight.  Now, he has precipitated the greatest crisis in military readiness since the Vietnam war.

• Years of extended deployments have stretched our military thin.
• Our troops’ equipment is wearing out.
• Extended deployments have taken a toll on the lives of soldiers and their families.
• Not a single non-deployed Army unit in the U.S. is fully combat ready.  America is at great risk of not being ready to respond to the next unexpected crisis.

• Key steps have been taken by the Democratic-controlled Congress to improve military readiness – adding needed equipment and training,more body armor, and better-protected armored vehicles.  More will be done to strengthen our military. 

• Democrats will work to reset and renew our armed forces, ensuring that we continue to have the strongest, most powerful military in the world.

• Democrats will continue to fight to enact a law that guarantees that our troops receive enough time at home after deployments, so that they can take care of their families and get the right warfighting training.

• We will work to expand our active-duty military, ensure our troops have the equipment and training they need in the field and at home, and repair the damage done to our National Guard and Reserves.

Veterans and Troops

PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Over the past seven years, we have increased funding for veterans by more than 95 percent.”

RESPONSE:

• This past year, the Democratic-led Congress provided the largest funding increase for veterans’ health care and benefits in our nation’s history, over the Bush Administration’s resistance.  

• Democrats have taken a key step toward ensuring that troops returning from war receive the medical care they need by passing the Wounded Warriors Act, and boosting funding for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury treatment.

• Democrats passed a 3.5 percent pay raise for our troops for 2008, over objections from the Bush Administration. 

• In the coming year, Democrats are working to expand the G.I. Bill, so that it can do for this generation of soldiers what it did for America’s Greatest Generation.

• Democrats will continue to stand up for our brave men and women in uniform and their families, ensuring they receive the training, equipment, care, pay, and benefits they deserve.