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| Congressional Lawmakers Hope Obama Focuses on Jobs During Speech |
(IRN)-Most Illinois members of Congress are hoping to hear one specific topic when President Obama makes his State of the Union address Tuesday.
"Obviously the biggest issue continues to be jobs, and I want to hear from the president what some of his ideas are on how we move forward on job creation in our country," said U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski. Lipinski says he also wants to hear from Obama on cooperation between Democrats and Republicans.
"I think that the thing that the president needs to address is jobs and the economy," said U.S. Representative Robert Dold. "It's one of the things that in talking to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, is the No. 1 priority for their country is how do we get more people back to work, how do we jump start out economy."
Creating jobs is a running theme among many congressmen and senators, but Illinois' senators see different priorities. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says job creation and turning the economy around are essential. But U.S. Sen. Mark S. Kirk says there must be talk about cutting spending and creating jobs without falling deeper in debt.
"We are all for jobs," Kirk said. "I think jobs funded by borrowed money from China, we've done that and that failed."
Durbin says he hopes to find common ground when moving forward on job creation and reducing the nation’s debt. “We’ve gotta find some common ground here so that we can move the economy forward,” Durbin said. "That's the best way, I think, to set the stage for real deficit reduction."
Kirk adds that he would like to see support for a presidential line item veto that would give Obama another tool to wield when cutting spending. "Just because he's a Democratic president doesn't mean that Republicans shouldn't support that," Kirk said.
Most of the lawmakers plan to sit with a political counterpart for tonight's address. Durbin will sit with Kirk. Dold has been invited to sit with Lipinski.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 01 25 11 by Newsroom |
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