(Washington, DC) — “Tonight the nation paused, as it does each year, to reflect on the State of our Union. It is always an exciting time in our nation’s capitol as the leaders of all three branches of government assemble to think about where we are and consider where we are going.

This is a “together” moment. Republicans and Democrats sat on opposite sides of the aisle tonight and applauded at different times. Our priorities are, in fact, very different. Yet, tonight we meet as representatives of the people of America, and listen to our President. We know deep down that we are fortunate to live in a free nation where we are asked to participate in our government.

The President has the most difficult job on the planet --- this is a serious time in our nation’s history, and tonight, he came to the People’s House and spoke of brighter days ahead. For his optimism he has my admiration, for his belief in our people he has my respect, but for his plan he has my skepticism.

The President has asked us to play this deadly game in Iraq, but throwing a pass up for grabs means we either win by luck or lose by languishing.

This evening, the President attempted to change the subject, to ignore the 800-pound gorilla in every citizen’s living room. Our nation can not and will not be able to move forward on a meaningful domestic agenda as long as the War in Iraq continues to escalate.

I wish I could say Iraq was not all-consuming --- but it absolutely is. We found out yesterday from the Congressional Budget Office that the War is devouring $1.8 billion a week. Ninety-three billion dollars were spent last year on Iraq. Since the War began, our nation has spent $503 billion in Iraq. Perhaps the unknown but chilling component of this spending is that we borrow much of these funds from China.

We have borrowed every penny to pay for this War. The choices we have made will limit the choices our children can make. This debt will be left to our grandchildren to make the difficult decisions to pay down. This War that our children did not begin will be left to them to pay off.

We have lost 3,058 of our best and brightest in Iraq. Fifty-two of those deaths are from Missouri. We all honor their deaths, but the President did them a disservice tonight. The President lauded the sacrifice of the brave men and women we have lost in Iraq without focusing on how to make the 3,058th the last to leave a mother in tears.

Tonight, the President brought us no new direction to salvage Iraq. Instead he came to us with a misguided plan to raise taxes on middle class families to fund a proposal that will provide little assistance to the 47 million uninsured.

In the same year the President intends to make permanent tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Americans, he is proposing to shift more of the cost of health care onto working Americans.

The President's proposal would jeopardize good health insurance for those lucky enough to have it, and it would shift Americans into insurance where they'll be at risk of losing their coverage just for getting sick.

Health care should not be a privilege for the few but a right for all.

The President reaffirmed his commitment to No Child Left Behind, a policy that has strapped our schools, not made them stronger.

Once again, the President set lofty goals to set our nation on the road to energy independence. He has talked about energy independence at each and every State of the Union. And yet, each and every year our consumption has increased rather than decreased. We can not wait ten more years for a meaningful reduction in our gasoline consumption.

This is a solemn night for our nation, a night certainly fundamentally based in rhetoric, but it is a shame our President does not seem to have a grasp on reality. Merely speaking does not make it so. Like he was when he led us into Iraq, the President is sure he is correct on all these issues. Sadly for our nation, so many times he has been dead wrong.

Tonight, the President came into the People’s House and described his plan for America’s future. He came at a low point in his approval rating. He came into a chamber filled with people willing to work with him to build a better America. Sadly, rather than embracing that good will, tonight, the President stood alone at an event intended to bring us together.”

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II

Member of Congress

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Belton, Raymore and Peculiar, Missouri. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee.