Watch the full State of the Union address below:
Press release from Sen. Richard Burr’s office, shared Jan. 29:
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) issued the following statement on President Obama’s State of the Union address:
“Tonight, President Obama touched on many issues, most notably on income inequality. But it’s as if the president, five years into his term in office, still doesn’t understand our country and what makes it work. The greatest achievement of our modern, free society is not the promise of equal outcomes — history is littered with the wrecks of nations that tried — but rather equality of opportunity. Unfortunately, the president’s policies are destroying opportunities for families and businesses across the country in the misguided belief that tearing down some will benefit all.
“The greatest source of opportunity is economic growth. The surest path to economic growth is to free our economy from the ineffective policies that the president has put into place over the five years he has been in office. President Obama has added more debt than all previous presidents combined. Unemployment, and underemployment, remain high. If you count Americans who have stopped looking for work and dropped out of the workforce entirely, it’s near record highs. And the income inequality that the President speaks about is higher under his administration than at any point since before the Great Depression. By any measure, our country is less free, more in debt, less respected abroad, and facing a future where prosperity and opportunity are reserved for the few.
“It is my wish that the president would stop looking for someone to blame, and instead spend time thinking about how we can reach bipartisan solutions to the issues he laid out this evening. I look forward to the president reaching out for suggestions as how to change the unsustainable path our nation is currently on.”
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I think Rep. Burr is misunderstanding and/or clouding the matter. I know of no Democrats who expect “equal outcomes”. When we democrats talk about equality, we do want equality of opportunity and I’m glad that Burr finally agrees.