U.S. Representative Paul Cook
Responds
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E
T Russell ___ While citizens gathered
around TV sets and online networks, Tuesday evening (January 20, 2015) to listen
to President Obama’s address to the nation, they had moderate expectations of
hearing new solutions to America’s critical dilemmas. The House was packed with
both Democrats and Republicans, government representatives from all the United
States.
At
the regular monthly meeting of in the Big Bear Valley Republican Assembly, members
watched with little anticipation of ‘change’. We were joined by Yvette Eddy,
Assemblyman Jay Obernolte’s Field Representative
and Jan Leja, Congressman Paul Cook’s Field Representative. When the camera occasionally spanned the
audience, we hoped to catch a glimpse of Representative Cook. I commented that I
expected to get Cook’s newsletter by this morning. Well, Paul Cook wrote the
following last night at the close of the speech.
Tonight, the new Congress heard the President’s State of the Union
Address. Unfortunately, the President still isn’t
listening to the American people. His speech was more of the same tax-and-spend
rhetoric of the we’ve heard for decades. The big government approach won’t
solve the problems faced by millions of American families. Rather than
continuing to divide Americans, the Republican-led Congress wants to bring
Americans together to get our economy moving again. I’m working with my
colleagues in the House and Senate to create new good-paying jobs, while
reducing energy, health care, and education costs.
The President could create tens of thousands of new jobs by approving the construction of the
Keystone XL Pipeline. Instead, he has promised to veto bipartisan
legislation that has passed the House and is moving through the Senate to allow
construction of the pipeline. This project should be a ‘no-brainer’. His own
State Department found that the pipeline would not significantly increase
carbon pollution, and the Nebraska Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of
completing construction.
The president must stop listening to the
extremist environmental millionaires, who fund his campaign and start listening
to the American people who need jobs and financial security.
The President made new tax hikes a cornerstone of his
State of the Union, barely three years since he forced massive tax hikes at
the end of 2012. We need our businesses creating more jobs for American
workers, not providing more money to fill government coffers. Congress is
working on a better plan to create a fairer, simpler, tax code that will work
for you.
We should start by bringing back and passing the Child
Tax Credit Improvement Act, important legislation that passed the House but
was ignored by the Senate last year. This bill gives more families access to
the $1,000 per-child tax credit, eliminates the “marriage penalty,” and
prevents nearly a billion dollars in false claims by requiring families to
submit a social security number to get the credit. This year, the House will
work with the new Senate majority to pass legislation like this to create a
fairer simpler tax code.
“It’s time for a fresh start. Your priorities are my
priorities. I’m ready to work together with my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle to offer real solutions for middle class Americans. I encourage the
President to join that effort,” states Representative Cook.