(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter released the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

“Well, on the positive side, I think President Obama focused on the right central theme – creating jobs. That’s probably because we actually had negative economic growth last quarter with unemployment still around eight percent. But I think everything he’s talking about is the same-old, same-old – more government programs and 'investment', code word for spending. For instance, if you look at how he wants to avoid sequestration, it’s more taxes and more spending.

“But there are a lot of very important things we can do that don’t involve that – including producing great energy jobs right here in America. If we just get the federal government out of the way and allow Americans to produce more American energy, those can be great high-paying jobs to really boost the economy,” Vitter said.