WASHINGTON — Livingston County’s local representative in Congress, Republican Chris Collins, has released a statement expressing frustration with President Obama’s State of the union address and hopes that both sides of the aisle can set aside their differences to get the country back on track.
“Instead of talking about cutting spending, the President talked about raising taxes. Instead of talking about growing the economy, the President outlined new spending programs. And, instead of talking about creating jobs, the President proposed raising the federal minimum wage which will only have the opposite effect – killing jobs we so desperately need,” Collins said.
Despite Congressman Collins’ frustration he is optimistic that corrective action can be taken.
“Despite what I failed to hear tonight in the President’s State of the Union, it is my hope that Washington will work together over the next several months to do what is necessary to put this country back on the right track,” said Collins.
Since defeating Democrat incumbent Cathy Hochul in the November election, Congressman Collins has been very active. He was recently appointed to the House Small Business Committee, where he says he is fighting for small businesses across the nation.
“With unemployment up last month and consumer confidence at the lowest point in over a year, the last thing Washington needs to do is drown small business owners in a sea of new regulations,” said Collins. “How do we expect small businesses to grow and hire more Americans when Washington continues to take more of their hard-earned money and burden them with new and expensive regulations, including ObamaCare?” Collins said.