Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Jim Risch issued the following statement after tonight’s State of the Union address by President Obama to a joint session of Congress.

“The president is an excellent speaker and his delivery was very good. The first two-thirds of his remarks was a description of American exceptionalism, which I am delighted to hear him finally acknowledge. The last one-third of the speech recognized, although not strongly enough, the incredibly dangerous financial condition this country is in.

“The government will borrow 42-cents of each dollar it spends this year. That’s a serious problem and it can’t go on. The president proposed freezing domestic spending for five years, which certainly helps lower expectations but it doesn’t cut, and cutting will have to be done.

“My pledge to Idahoans is that we rein in uncontrollable federal spending and work with business to open markets, reduce regulations and bring certainty back to the financial sector so they can begin hiring and producing goods and services throughout our country. Many Idahoans want to go back to work and we must do everything we can to make that happen.”

Audio and video of Senator Risch’s comments can be found online at www.risch.senate.gov

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