My Take on the President’s Speech

Dear Friend,

In Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, President Obama discussed the great strides forward we’ve made in moving our country out of the Great Recession and into a period of economic recovery and growth. For 58 straight months now, private sector employment has created more than 11 million jobs and, for the past 12 months, that growth has been coupled by the smallest budget deficit since 2007.

These numbers are encouraging, but the president rightly recognized that more work remains to ensure that all Americans enjoy the fruits of our stronger economy. Too many of our neighbors are still unemployed, underemployed or underpaid and I agree with the president that we must do more to tackle these challenges.

President Obama presented a lot of good ideas on how to do that, and I strongly believe there is room for bipartisan compromise on many of them.

I look forward to working with President Obama and my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle over the coming year. I agree with the president’s assessment that the state of our union is much stronger than it was six years ago, but we must stay focused on the work that still lies before us. We have a ripe opportunity to work together to make real progress on our most critical priorities and it is my sincere hope that we seize this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Tom Carper