Washington, DC – Representative John Linder (R-GA) released the following statement regarding President Obama’s February, 2009, State of the Nation:  

“Tonight the President stated, ‘the answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach.  They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth.’  On that point, we agree completely.  However, on the plan to unleash that potential, we could not be further apart.  His plan is to smother these saviors with over-taxation and over-regulation and discourage the very answers he counts on.  We should use this opportunity to debate and enact long-term solutions that will ensure prosperity for our children and our grandchildren.”  

“Whether it be an idea like my FairTax legislation, which will make American businesses the most competitive in the world again, or the Economic Recovery and Middle Class Tax Relief Act, which increases the child tax credit tax and reduces income taxes paid by American families by 5 percent across the board, or the Free Market Protection Act which holds Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accountable and ends the unsustainable relationship with the government that allowed them to perpetuate the real estate bubble and socialize loss but privatize profit, I implore the President to not be tempted by stop gap solutions that will lengthen tremendously the recovery process, rather encourage Congress to put all of the ideas for long-term solutions on the table and collectively create a more stable economy for future generations.”