WASHINGTON — The nation cannot afford the spending Democrats have enacted or the tax increases they propose, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday in the Republican response to the State of the Union address.
McDonnell said Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans want affordable health care, but they don’t want the government to run it.
“Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much,” McDonnell said in prepared remarks. “In the past year, over 3 million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren.”
McDonnell said that all Americans want affordable, high- quality health care. But, he added, “Most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.”
McDonnell delivered the Republican response after President Barack Obama’s speech. National GOP leaders picked McDonnell after he was elected in a rout last fall in a state Obama and the Democrats swept in 2008.
Republicans are feeling emboldened following a string of GOP victories at the polls.
“We want results, not rhetoric,” McDonnell said. “We want cooperation, not partisanship.”
