President ObamaWASHINGTON, D.C. - In his second State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama laid out a plan for cutting the deficit and increasing investments in key sectors of the economy, which left many in the Tennessee congressional delegation scratching their heads.
The president painted a picture of an American economy that's recovering from an economic crisis that has left millions of workers without work or stuck with jobs that pay far less then they held previously.
"Remember -- for all the hits we've taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting America's decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world," President Obama told the joint session of Congress.
Many Tennessee Republicans said the speech didn't match reality, because the president didn't focus as much on the growing budget deficits as they say is necessary to make the nation fiscally solvent again.
"I'm not sure that what I heard matches the current state of the nation," Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., said after attending the address. "We talked about it almost like things are prospering, but I don't think we've recovered economically if we've doubled our debt."
Besides calling for investments in new technologies and education, the president did ask Congress to freeze spending over the next five years on domestic budget items - which his administration claims will cut the deficit by $400 billion dollars over the next decade - but Tennessee Republicans say a spending freeze should just be a starting point.
"It's not enough, because what they've done, they've increased spending levels so much and to freeze I there is not enough," said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., "The deficit and the national debt is a real problem. It's a real crisis, and we've got to get back to fiscal responsibility in this country."