Press Releases

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address:

The president discussed a number of critical challenges that need to be addressed, such as strengthening job training assistance, supporting small businesses, fixing a broken education system, and putting more Americans back to work. The House has advanced commonsense, responsible solutions to these and other national priorities. We need willing partners in the White House and Senate who will work with us in good faith to find common ground and move our country forward.

America’s families should no longer bear the burden of failed policies and a weak economy. Wages are stagnant, unemployment is too high, college costs are skyrocketing, and health care premiums continue to go up. But instead of changing course, the president wants to change the subject. No executive order or unilateral action will help working families if it simply perpetuates the same flawed agenda and failed status quo.

Executive fiats cannot ensure students have access to a quality education or help job-seekers learn the skills they need to succeed in today’s workforce. The president has rightly called for a year of action – but it must be a year of bipartisan action. No one party has all the answers. The American people expect us to work together on their behalf. That’s what Republicans will continue to do, and we urge the president to join us.

# # #