Idaho delegation pans Obama’s State of the Union speech

Reviews of last night’s State of the Union speech from Idaho’s congressional delegation: “He had a good delivery, as he always does,” said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. “But this was clearly a political speech.” Said Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, “A lot of lofty rhetoric, but no action.” Congressman Mike Simpson said, “He hasn’t given us hope of anything better this year, further convincing the American people that their government cannot solve problems.”

Said Simpson, “Putting Band-Aids on our broken tax code does nothing to fix it. What we really need is for Republicans and Democrats to come together to implement fundamental tax reform to bring about a new tax system that lowers the rate and broadens the base, creating a simpler and fairer tax code. This, in conjunction with significant spending reductions and reform of our entitlement programs that are on auto-pilot spending, would go a long way toward creating the growth necessary to revitalize our economy and bring our deficit under control.”

You can read a full report here from S-R reporter Jim Camden on reactions to President Obama’s speech from Idaho and Washington members of Congress.