o Report: Obama vows to use powers of presidency
o Full text of the 2014 State of the Union address, as transcribed at The Washington Post.
o Southwest Washington’s representatives in Congress react to the address.
WASHINGTON — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers on Tuesday offered a kinder, gentler vision of Republicans who are determined to empower Americans, not the government, and close the gap “between where you are and where you want to be.”
o Report: Obama vows to use powers of presidency
o Full text of the 2014 State of the Union address, as transcribed at The Washington Post.
o Southwest Washington's representatives in Congress react to the address.
Tapped to deliver the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, McMorris Rodgers touched on the daily routines of average Americans that overshadow Washington, from kissing children goodnight to preparing for a doctor’s visit, and complained that Obama’s policies are making life harder.
The highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress said the GOP believes “in a government that trusts people and doesn’t limit where you finish because of where you started. That is what we stand for — for an America that is every bit as compassionate as it is exceptional. Our plan is one that dreams big for everyone and turns its back on no one.”
Noteworthy for a member of the Republican leadership, McMorris Rodgers expressed support for changing the nation’s immigration system, though she made no mention of what to do about the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
The chairwoman of the House Republican Conference focused on dealing with border security and expanding visas to attract high-tech workers.
Her remarks were highly personal, devoted in large part to her background and family. She spoke of preferred Republican approaches on school choice, lower taxes and fewer regulations.
In contrast to McMorris Rodgers, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered a biting critique.
“After five years, President Obama is clearly out of ideas,” Boehner said in a statement. “With few bipartisan proposals, Americans heard a president more interested in advancing ideology than in solving the problems regular folks are talking about.”
McMorris Rodgers said that under the president’s economic policies “more Americans stopped looking for a job than found one,” and criticized his health care overhaul for leading to canceled insurance coverage and patients unable to see their regular doctors.
“Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government’s,” said the five-term congresswoman from Eastern Washington. “And that whether you’re a boy with Down syndrome or a woman with breast cancer, you can find coverage and a doctor who will treat you.”
McMorris Rodgers’ son Cole, 6, has Down syndrome, and she co-founded the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus.
