President Obama’s State of the Union Address was as noteworthy for what it did not say as for what it did. 

The President touted our economic recovery. He omitted that fewer Americans are employed today than at the onset of the last recession. He briefly mentioned tax reform. He said nothing about changing his push for higher taxes, which have killed jobs and forced some of our neighbors to leave their homes.

Our problems cannot all be blamed on one party. Plenty of elected officials on both sides of the aisle gave lip service to fiscal responsibility while helping special interests game the system. The national debt now exceeds $17 trillion, and by the end of the current administration, it is expected that figure will have doubled from what it was at the start. This is unsustainable. A critical element of economic recovery is that Congress stop spending like a drunken sailor. Congress has an Appropriations Committee.  It should have a counterpart De-appropriations Committee that identifies waste and abuse. Congress should eliminate budget gimmicks, put caps on spending, and tie the national debt to a ratio of Gross Domestic Product that reflects historical spending levels.

Our tax code is a convoluted, three-million-word testament to the power of special interests. It should be scrapped and replaced with a simpler, flatter code.

Entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare need to be fixed so that they can be sustained without bankrupting us.  Congress should also give the Executive Branch more discretion to curb wasteful spending.

The President correctly touted our growing energy independence. However, this happened despite his policies, not because of them, as the administration stymied promising channels of energy production while pushing for giveaways to politically connected energy companies. We can do better. Congress can start by authorizing the Keystone Pipeline. In this and in other areas, we must reject job-killing regulations that advance the demands of special interests ahead of the broader public interest.

The President mentioned our “broken health care system” and announced “we’re in the process of fixing that.” I completely disagree. Problems with the Affordable Care Act go well beyond the rollout of the government’s malfunctioning website. Over five million Americans lost their health insurance because of Obamacare, despite the President’s repeated promises this would not happen. Doctors understand that sometimes the treatment can be worse than the disease. We cannot treat the problem of excessive power in the hands of insurance company bureaucrats by giving excessive power to government bureaucrats. Part of the reason health insurance exchanges have become unmanageable is that the Affordable Care Act omitted specifics for operation, leaving this to bureaucrats. They imposed rules which trampled on religious freedom, leading to a raft of federal injunctions across the country. Congress can fix this immediately—and it should.

The President remarked that those who seek repeal of the ACA present proposals to fix our health care system. I accept his challenge. Congress can start by restoring decision-making to doctors and patients. The President unilaterally delayed the employer mandate, apparently to forestall the anticipated job loss until after Election Day. This flouted the process of constitutional lawmaking. Congress should permanently cancel the mandate and enact a law that allows consumers to choose among health insurers across state lines, give them the option of opening health savings accounts to manage health care costs, and enjoy the same tax incentives employers enjoy by paying for health insurance. Insurance premiums should be tied to preventative care, giving consumers incentives to make healthy lifestyle choices to prevent or delay the onset of degenerative diseases, where most health care dollars are spent. Those who are most vulnerable due to illness or poverty should receive extra support.

The federal government has been going down the wrong path, but we cannot give up. Congress can change direction if its members are truly committed to the values of freedom that built the American dream. If we rise to the challenge, we will ensure a brighter future for the generations to come.