New Congress "hard at work," freshman GOP rep. says
Over a week into its first session, the new Republican-led Congress is "hard at work," Rep. Steve Russell said in the weekly GOP address Saturday.
Russell, a freshman Republican from Oklahoma, cited bills passed by the House that would encourage businesses to hire veterans, adjust Obamacare's definition of a full-time workweek and approve the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
"These measures are only the beginning," he vowed.
President Obama has vowed to veto the measure on Obamacare, which the White House has said would increase the deficit and throw Americans off their employer-based insurance coverage. He's also promised to veto the bill approving Keystone, which would carry crude oil from Canadian tar sands to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, saying the bill would usurp the authority of the executive branch to approve or deny such projects.
Russell criticized the president's veto threats.
"Now President Obama doesn't agree with our direction, the one that you, the voters, asked us to take, and he has threatened to block your progress," the congressman said. "But we challenge him to listen to the people instead of standing in the way of your future."
Russell also defended Wednesday's House vote to block Mr. Obama's recent executive actions on immigration, with which the president granted a reprieve from deportation to roughly 5 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
"It's not about opportunity; it is about the Constitution and being fair to those legal immigrants who follow the law," Russell said. "We can and will find solutions to immigration and will be happy to do it, but they will be your solutions through the Congress, not unfair executive actions."
In his own address Saturday, the president discussed his upcoming State of the Union address, scheduled for Tuesday.
Mr. Obama touted robust job creation and the end of America's combat mission in Afghanistan to argue that "America's resurgence is real."
"Our job now is to make sure that every American feels that they're a part of our country's comeback," he added. "That's what I'll focus on in my State of the Union: How to build on our momentum, with rising wages, growing incomes and a stronger middle class. And I'll call on this new Congress to join me in putting aside the political games and finding areas where we agree so we can deliver for the American people."