Enid News: Inhofe, Lucas Have Praise, Criticism

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas had some praise for President Barack Obama following his first State of the Union address Wednesday.

But, they also had plenty of criticism for the Democratic president.

Inhofe, R-Okla., was pleased the president promoted elimination of the capital gains tax and tax credits for new hiring in the private sector. He also was happy to hear Obama favored increasing some tax credits while creating incentives for retirement savings.

Lucas, R-Okla., liked how Obama focused on the economy.

“I was pleased to see President Obama chose to focus much of his first State of the Union address on our country’s ailing economy,” Lucas said. “Although Oklahoma has fared better than the rest of the nation, much of our country is suffering through our current economic troubles, and it is time that we concentrate on improving our economy, creating jobs, and reducing Americans’ tax burden rather than a trillion-dollar government takeover of our health care system or a $600 billion energy tax.”

Inhofe and Lucas were less than enthusiastic about Obama’s proposal to freeze some government spending.

“Tonight, out of one side of his mouth, President Obama advocated freezing some government spending, but out of the other side of his mouth, he advocated spending increases,” Inhofe said. “While freezing spending is a good idea, given the unprecedented explosion of federal spending the Democrats have instituted during the last year, what he is offering seems more like a budgetary bait-and-switch that does not address our nation’s fiscal problems.

“… instead of freezing spending at the bloated levels of the past year, we should return to the comparatively more modest spending levels of previous years. I mean, he increases spending by over 20 percent, and then freezes it,” he said.

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