WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., issued the following statement this evening on President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“Americans wanted to hear President Obama lay out a concrete plan to create jobs and strengthen our economy without crippling it with more excessive spending and debt.  While I am glad the president announced his support for incentives aimed at helping small businesses begin growing and hiring again, he could have – and should have – gone further. 

“The first step to putting our nation back on the road to economic recovery and job creation is to put an end to the current spending spree.  We must commit to reducing the federal debt by exercising real restraint that goes beyond cosmetic fixes, such as the so-called spending freeze announced by the president.  Congress, with leadership from the president, must stop the practice of passing trillion-dollar spending bills.  To that end, the Democrats’ misguided health care bill should be scrapped so that we can start over with a step-by-step approach to health reforms that improve quality and access to care without spending trillions of taxpayer dollars.

“Finally, as we work to get our economy back on track, we must also continue doing everything we can to protect the American people from terrorists who continue to plot against us.  The president has made some prudent decisions on Afghanistan and Iraq, but I remain troubled by other steps he has taken.  President Obama’s decision to bring the September 11 mastermind to New York City for trial and the administration’s mishandling of the interrogation of the would-be Christmas Day airplane bomber are two examples of decisions I believe have hurt our ability to win the war on terror.” 

###