House Majority Leader McCarthy: President Obama more interested in posturing than finding common ground

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his words:

   "The Constitution says that the President 'shall from time to time give the Congress Information of the State of the Union.' Through most of our history, the President has provided to Congress a state of the union through either a letter or a speech, and President Obama continued that tradition this past week.

 "Through the election in November, the people made it clear that they want our country to go in a different direction. At the state of the union, the President had an opportunity to do more than just claim he wanted to work with Republicans, but to actually put forward ideas that we could work together on and that the American people want.

 "Unfortunately, the President missed this golden opportunity. Though he said he was willing to work with Congress, he threatened to veto four different bills during the speech alone—the largest number of veto threats in a state of the union in memory.
 "And when he moved on to offering proposals of his own instead of just shooting down ideas from Congress, he went back to the same tax-and-spend, big-government ideas that the American people have made it very clear they don’t want.

  "So far, it seems the President would rather continue his political posturing instead of finding common ground.

  "There is a simple formula for divided government to work together. First, you need a Congress that passes good bills that both sides can support. Next, you need a president that is willing to work with Congress to find areas of agreement so both parties can accept the resolution.

 "In the opening weeks of this new year, the House has been keeping up its side of the bargain. We’ve passed bipartisan bill after bipartisan bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, rein in the Washington  "regulatory regime, reform the permitting process for natural gas pipelines, stop the taxpayer funding of abortion, and more. But the President has already threatened to veto seven bipartisan House bills. In total, these bills have received 123 Democrat votes.

 "As I’ve always said, I am willing to work with anyone who is willing to work. So far, the President hasn’t shown that he’s willing to work with us. He needs to set his sights higher than the veto pen.