The lawmakers who comprise West Virginia’s congressional delegation all stressed the need for bipartisan compromise in responses to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.
The four Republicans, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Rep. Evan Jenkins, Rep. David McKinley, and Rep. Alex Mooney, also accused the president of divisive rhetoric.
In an emailed statement, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. said he is hopeful that the president’s proposals on tax reform begin a meaningful debate.
Obama proposed closing loopholes that reward companies that keep profits abroad and let the wealthy avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth.
“It’s past time to find a common sense, comprehensive pathway toward fixing our long-term spending and debt problems,” Manchin said. “Our current tax system is needlessly complex, economically harmful and, often times, unfair. “The president and Congress should work together to reform our tax structure to help lower rates by closing unfair loopholes and deductions while also ensuring American businesses stay on U.S. soil,” he said.
Manchin said he was disappointed that the president did not focus more on promoting energy efficiency and investing in advanced fossil fuel technology in order to strike a balance between a healthy economy and a clean environment.
Manchin also spoke more at length about national policies during a Tuesday morning telephone conference.
He stressed his support for an “all energy policy, including coal, natural gas, wind and solar power.”
Energy independence, he said, will help the United States avoid dependence on other countries.
“The Saudis are watching the U.S. economy,” he said. “I hope we are going to be energy independent and not be giving the Saudis our resources. I don’t think the Saudis use their resources to help America.”
Manchin backs the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, that would bring in oil from Alberta, Canada to North Dakota, then down to Nebraska and further south.
Obama has said he will veto legislation approving construction of the XL Pipeline. Many critics argue the pipeline could damage the environment and cost American jobs.
During the speech, Obama said “let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline. Let’s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year, and make this country stronger for decades to come.”
“He and I differ on the pipelines,” Manchin said during the morning telephone conference. “I would rather buy crude oil from Canada than from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or Russia. That drags us into parts of the work that are horrific.”
Capito sent a video response to the speech.
She said she was hopeful the president’s address would “reach that hand of cooperation out to Congress.”
“Unfortunately he didn’t,” she said. “He still was proposing some of the divisive policies that you always see in a campaign, and I think the way to get confidence back in this country and certainly in West Virginia, is to get West Virginians back to work.”
She proposed that Congress could reach compromise on coal policies, an infrastructure bill, and a tax reform bill, and used the Keystone bill, which Congress is expected to pass, as an example of compromise.
“Those are the kinds of things where we have common ground,” she said. “We could work together. We could have a new tone here in Washington. We could seek solutions to the deep problems without the divisiveness and the gridlock that we’ve seen in the past.”
McKinley sent a news release criticizing the president’s address.
“Americans deserve better,” he said. “They simply want government to be more efficient, effective, and accountable,” McKinley chastised the president for promising to veto several pieces of bipartisan legislation, such as the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
“How does that give peace of mind and hope to struggling families?” he said. “The new American Congress will continue to work for the people who sent us here to get work done. Obama can go on blocking jobs bills, threatening vetoes, and causing gridlock. In the meantime, we’ll get to work for the people who sent us here — the hard-working taxpayers who deserve better than what they have experienced in the last six years.”
Jenkins said Obama continues with “business as usual,” though voters sent a message of change to the president in November. Obama’s speech was focused on what divides us, not unites us, he said.
“While he mentioned energy production, he missed the opportunity to embrace our nation’s most abundant and affordable energy source, coal like that produced in West Virginia,” he said. “Instead, the president made it clear that he will continue to act alone and ignore the constitutional role of Congress to write our nation’s laws.
“Republicans and Democrats in the House have passed dozens of bills with broad bipartisan agreement, proving that Congress is capable of working together to write and pass important bills,” Jenkins said. “We should work together on issues important to West Virginians, including making coal a vital component of an all-of-the-above energy plan, passing a transportation bill, and kickstarting our economy to protect and grow jobs.”
Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va, criticized the president for promising to use his veto power to halt the implementation of policies such as the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
“The Republican House, with support from many Democrats, has passed legislation on the priorities of the American people,” he said. “The House has voted to authorize construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, restore the definition of a full-time work week to 40 hours rather than 30, and exempt veterans and first responders from the employer mandate of Obamacare. We chose to begin the year empowering hard-working taxpayers.”
He also referenced the president’s proposal to close loopholes that help companies that keep profits abroad evade taxes, and let the wealthy avoid paying taxes, referring to the proposal as “class warfare.”
“I believe this is an insult to the American people who last November demanded cooperation and common sense policies rather than useless rhetoric,” he said. “The President should stand ready to work with the Republican conference which has a bold vision to empower hard-working taxpayers rather than the federal government.”
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