Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Wednesday regarding the President’s speech on our nation’s unsustainable debt:

“After two years of adding trillions to the debt and ignoring our nation's looming fiscal nightmare, the President dedicated a significant portion of his speech today looking elsewhere for a culprit. But while he may want to blame others for the problems that reckless borrowing and spending have caused, the American people are well past the point of believing that Washington will be able to make good on all its promises and that entitlement programs will be strong and solvent if Democrats are allowed to raise taxes.

“Americans know that we face a fiscal crisis not because we tax too little, but because Washington spends too much. They do not support the reckless Washington spending of the past two years that has left us with record deficits and debt, and they will not support raising taxes to preserve an unsustainable status quo. A bipartisan majority of lawmakers rejected the kind of tax hike on small business that President Obama endorsed today, and it was counterproductive of him to revive it. Americans want policies that will create the right climate for job creation -- and that means cutting Washington spending, not squeezing family budgets even more than they already are. Both parties have agreed to make a down payment on that effort with a bill that will cut billions in spending this year, and Congressman Paul Ryan has followed that up with a serious proposal to cut trillions more.”