Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement this evening on President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress:
“President Obama deserves great credit for his ambitious plan to get our economy back on track, our fiscal house back in order, and our educational system back atop the rest of the world. The challenges we face are great, but the American spirit is greater.
“I stand ready to work with the President to renew our nation’s schools and protect future generations by reining in wasteful spending and putting us back on the road to fiscal responsibility. But I remain gravely concerned that congressional Democrats may stand in the way of these shared goals.
“Just this week, House Democrats are preparing to approve a partisan spending package that allocates more than $400 billion in taxpayer dollars to Democrats’ favored programs; contrast that with the Republican proposal to immediately freeze spending. At the same time, Democrats in Congress are attacking critical education reform initiatives like the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, setting us backward in the drive to improve educational opportunities for students.
“I am hopeful that the President’s address this evening marks a shift from the big spending, special interest-driven agenda that congressional Democrats have thus far embraced. If it does not, then our opportunity to work together on our nation’s critical priorities will surely be lost.”
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