This week the nation listened as President Obama laid out his vision for America in the annual State of the Union Address. After listening to President Obama’s speech, it is obvious he believes more government and executive actions are the solution to every problem facing our country. When I talk to folks back home in Missouri, they tell me big government is the problem, not the solution.
Families, small businesses and farmers are burdened with excessive regulations. In Missouri, common sense tells us regulations from Washington will hurt our economy. Unfortunately, common sense is not so common in Washington. In the first 3 days of 2014, the Obama Administration posted 141 new regulations - 141 regulations in just 3 days. President Obama seems intent to regulate everything from how we meet our energy needs to when we are allowed to use rivers for Baptism services.
President Obama is issuing new regulations through executive orders because he knows his agenda is too extreme to get through Congress. It’s time for the president to stop side stepping Congress. The President needs to abandon his “my way or the highway” approach and start working with Congress. After the government shutdown in the 1990s, at least President Clinton fostered a working relationship with House Republicans. As a result, Congress passed bipartisan welfare reforms and back to back balanced budgets. President Obama could learn a lot from the efforts made by President Clinton to actually work with Congress.
The President has called for 2014 to be a "Year of Action." House Republicans have already acted to pass dozens of jobs bills to help get Americans back to work. A good way to start the "Year of Action" would be for the President and the Democrat-run Senate to act on these House-passed solutions. The President and the Senate should act to pass the SKILLS Act, which would provide the long-term unemployed with the job training they desperately need. The President and the Senate should act to pass the REINS Act to get Washington out of the way so our economy can grow. The President should act to approve the Keystone Pipeline to create jobs and help ease energy costs for all Americans. The President should act to protect all Americans, not just big businesses, from the harmful impacts of Obamacare, like higher health care costs and loss of access to care.
During my short time in Washington I have become convinced that we must put an end to the burdensome regulations and the Obama executive actions that stifle creativity and limit our freedoms. President Obama has a real opportunity to work with Republicans in the House to get Washington out of the way so Americans can succeed, but he must stop trying to legislate with executive actions and start working with Congress.
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