On the recordJanuary 26, 2011
I rise to speak about the issues that I think are most important to the American public. I appreciated the opportunity I had last evening, along with the Presiding Officer, to sit and listen to the President's State of the Union Address, which is an annual rite of passage where the President lays out his blueprint and his vision for the next year. In those remarks he did, as he did last year, touch on a number of themes that I think speak to issues that are important for the country to face. Certainly, there were statements in that speech I agree with, in terms of the things he said we need to be focused on. There are some statements with which I did not agree. But in terms of the broader agenda, what strikes me about the speech is he talked about the need for tax reform, which is something I agree with. I think it is an issue of competitiveness. He talked about medical malpractice reform, which is something many of us have been trying to get to be part of the health care debate in this country for a long time. Unfortunately, that got left on the cutting room floor last year. He talked about strengthening Social Security and entitlement reform, also a critical priority if we are serious about getting spending and debt under control. He also talked about regulatory reform, looking at government reform and the types of actions we might be able to take to streamline or shrink or make more efficient the Federal Government.
