WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today made the following remarks regarding the President’s State of the Union address:

“It will take more than a change in tone to meet the challenges facing our nation: to control deficit spending, to address damaging regulations and to restore exceptionalism in America’s foreign policy will take bold proposals, difficult choices and bipartisan compromise.

“The President has demonstrated he heard the message of this last campaign loud and clear: America must reduce our deficit and curb spending if we are to ensure any quality of life or security for our children and grandchildren. His call to freeze non-defense spending is a good first step. I would go one step further and add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

“If jobs are again the President’s number one focus, we must enact several trade agreements languishing in the Congress. These agreements will allow Americans to compete in more global markets, exporting billions of dollars of our manufacturing and agricultural goods and creating thousands of new American jobs.”

Senator Roberts is a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.

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