“Tonight President Bush issued his 2006 State of the Union Address and it was woefully inadequate. We still have 43 million people without health insurance and the President had no meaningful message for most of them. Instead, he touts the Medical Savings Accounts, which is a program that will allow high-income Americans to benefit from tax free accounts, while at the same time, encouraging cutbacks of employer health coverage for the middle class.

The new Medicare drug plan that the President propelled through the Republican-led Congress is one of the most confusing pieces of legislation ever devised and our seniors are paying the price.

The Leave No Child Behind program should be left behind as it is an under-funded mandate and therefore, unable to realize its full potential.  Further, Americans need to be competitive on a global basis.  The President spoke about grandiose educational plans to make our young people more competitive, yet just a few weeks ago, the Republicans cut $14 billion out of the Pell grant budget.  And, the Republican-led Congress is prepared to cut education again. 

The President still hasn’t admitted to mistakes in Iraq or with the handling of the Gulf Coast States after Hurricane Katrina.  New Orleans still looks like a war zone and the real work on the ground to rebuild one of this country’s most glorious cities is suspect.

Most Americans are not comfortable with the way this President is handling the war in Iraq.  To date, over 2200 Americans have been killed and at least 16,548 American soldiers have been injured in the war.  The President made no mention of a plan to gauge our success and effectiveness in order to draw down our troops.  The President had an opportunity to give details, the how and when do we get our troops out of Iraq.

The war in Iraq is a big contributor to our national debt, along with tax cuts and new spending for hurricane relief.  According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the President is unlikely to be able to keep his promise to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009.  The budget deficit is climbing and unfortunately, the President presented no realistic plan to deal with it. 

The President talks about quality schools, strong New Orleans levies, body armor for American soldiers, cancer research, AIDS research and treatment, college loans, drug treatment programs, increased early childhood education, small business loans, and veterans benefits, but his policies don’t match up.  There’s a bit of truthiness going on here.

Overall, the President’s rhetoric is at odds with my district’s perception of the state of the Union and reality in general.”