​  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.