Local Congress members respond to State of the Union

President Biden is urging bipartisanship in his State of the Union address. While speaking on the House floor Tuesday night, Biden said despite disagreements, Democrats and Republicans came together time and time again during his first two years as President. He said he signed more than 300 bipartisan laws.

Columbus Republican Congressman Greg Pence issued a statement after the speech, saying he was “disappointed the President used this platform before a Joint Session of Congress and the American People to offer more of the same absent leadership we have sadly grown accustomed to over the last two years.” Pence said that he travels the Sixth Congressional District and Americans “are still suffering under high energy costs, inflation that continues to outpace wages, a fentanyl crisis, a border crisis, a debt crisis, and an emboldened China.”

Republican Congresswoman Rep. Erin Houchin, who represents southeastern Indiana in Congress, said that important issues were not addressed in the president’s speech, including the surge in fentanyl coming across the border, and the rising number of overdose deaths in the district.
” We heard the President’s words on unifying our country, and I’m hopeful, but not optimistic, he will live up to them and turn away from the far-left agenda. We need conservative solutions that go beyond rhetoric, and I call on the President of the United States to work with Republicans to implement policies that benefit every hardworking American.