Dr. Coburn’s Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Jan 25 2011

(WASHIGNTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement tonight regarding President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“The president had an opportunity to give budget and entitlement reform real momentum but stopped short. He did what presidents often do and deferred the hard choices to Congress. No doors were slammed, and areas for cooperation remain open. Yet, the task of putting our nation on a sustainable path will be much more difficult absent strong presidential leadership.

“The president’s biggest push was to advance an argument he has made many times in the past – that the government is a vital partner in making investments and spurring innovation. The problem is we’ve had countless Sputnik moments in recent decades that have created little more than space junk. Congress continuously launches programs with great fanfare but rarely tracks or measures their progress. Then, when we want launch a new program we’re surprised when it overlaps with an existing program.

“The best way to spur the kind of innovation we need is for government to get out of the way, reduce our debt burden, and allow capital to flow to the most promising and productive enterprises. The five-year spending freeze the president proposed excludes most of the budget and hardly amounts to serious deficit reduction when we are already running trillion dollar annual deficits. Locking in current spending levels locks in dangerous deficits and gives everyone’s sacred cows a new lease on life. Borrowing a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy is stealing from the future, not investing in the future.”