Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gave his very own response the President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) delivered the official GOP response while Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave the official Tea Party response.
Paul cited former President Ronald Reagan when he made the argument that “government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem.”
In order to overcome the array of problems facing the United States, lawmakers have to look past the petty debate going on in Washington, the Kentucky senator said.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks to members of the media after an East Room event that President Barack Obama announced San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as 'Promise Zones' January 9, 2014 at the White House in Washington, DC. President Obama announced the five areas as his administration's first five 'Promise Zones' to help the local communities to combat poverty. Alex Wong/Getty Images
“Let me say from the outset, I’ll work with the president, Democrats, Independents and anyone who wants to get people back to work and alleviate poverty in our country,” he added.
Paul went on to argue that the Federal Reserve caused the housing bubble and the subsequent crash by keeping interest rates too low for too long. He said government money was given to borrowers who couldn’t afford it.
“If we don’t understand the cause of joblessness, we’ll have trouble fixing it,” Paul said. “As we entered into the Great Recession, Republicans and Democrats misdiagnosed the problem as too little government. So they gave us more government in the form of bank bailouts and a government stimulus plan.”
The fact of the matter is, he explained, the government doesn’t create jobs very well, he said.
President Obama’s plan to address poverty “recycles worn-out ideas that haven’t worked in the past.”
“His idea is that we should make it easier to funnel federal dollars back to local governments. I think it would be better not to take the money from businesses in the first place,” Paul said. “We need real jobs created in the real world, not more empty government promises.”
Watch Paul's full response here:
