WASHINGTON-As lawmakers gather for President Obama's final State of the Union Address, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, will be absent from the House Chamber in keeping with procedures for continuity of government purposes. For the duration of the President's remarks, Senator Hatch will be in an undisclosed location.
Senator Hatch Delivers Utah Response to State of the Union
Washington, D.C.—Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior Republican in the United States Senate, released a video response following President Obama’s State of the Union address.
The transcript of Senator Hatch’s remarks is below.
In President Obama’s final state of the Union Address, he attempted to define his legacy.
But the only legacy this President leaves behind is an unparalleled record of partisanship and a history of sowing division in Congress and among the American people.
The President frequently refuses to work with the other side and rarely treats reasonable disagreement as legitimate.
Long after Mr. Obama leaves office, history will long remember him as among the most divisive Presidents in American history.
Tonight the President’s fecklessness was on full display when he chose to ignore Congress’s bipartisan achievements to focus instead on the politics of division.
Time and again, he has spurned Congress and the Constitution through his overreaching executive actions.
From immigration and healthcare to job-killing regulations and gun control, this President has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to push the bounds of the Constitution beyond recognizable limits.
The American people did not elect Mr. Obama to rule by executive fiat.
In contrast to the President’s unilateralism, our new Republican leadership has put Congress back to work for the American people.
We’ve delivered significant bipartisan accomplishments that will create jobs, boost our national security, improve education, and strengthen the economy.
These successes prove that we can work together and accomplish great things for Utah and for our nation.
Congress has seen its greatest success by empowering state and local leaders like those in Utah, instead of Washington bureaucrats.
We passed the first long-term transportation bill in a decade. Our education overhaul was described by The Wall Street Journal as “the largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter-century.”
Legislation like this will give Utah leaders the crucial decision-making authority to tailor solutions to their states, in stark contrast to the top-down, one-size-fit-all policies the President championed tonight.
We need a President who is willing to work with us in accordance with the Constitution—not against.
I look forward to working with a future President who puts the needs of the nation above his own party.
I pray that the future president will see Congress as a partner—not an adversary—and be willing to work together to deliver meaningful results for the American people
