Chairman Goodlatte Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Washington, D.C.  – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued the statements below on several policy matters following President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address. Criminal Justice Reform: “Criminal justice reform is a top priority for the House Judiciary Committee. We must ensure that our federal criminal laws and regulations appropriately punish wrongdoers, are effectively and appropriately enforced, protect individual freedom, safeguard civil liberties, work as efficiently as possible, do not impede state efforts, and do not waste taxpayer dollars. The Committee is working on a bipartisan basis on several bills to improve the criminal justice system and has approved seven bills to date. We will continue to work on this initiative over the coming weeks with the goal of seeing a bill signed into law this year.” National Security: “Congressional Republicans have worked constructively with the Obama Administration on numerous occasions to enhance national security. The USA Freedom Act was signed into law last year and keeps our nation safe while protecting Americans’ privacy. And the Visa Waiver Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act, enacted as part of the FY 2016 appropriations bill, takes reasonable, commonsense steps to close gaping security holes in the Visa Waiver Program. “The President should back off on his efforts to bring more refugees from Iraq and Syria to the United States until the Director of the FBI can certify that there is a process in place for adequately screening terrorist threats.  We know that ISIS plans to infiltrate Western countries through the refugee system and it’s foolish not to hit pause on the President’s plan to usher in thousands of Iraqi and Syrian refugees over the coming year.” Immigration: “President Obama has refused to enforce our immigration laws and instead has encouraged more illegal immigration by using his pen and his phone to rewrite the law unilaterally. President Obama said 22 times that he does not have the authority to rewrite our immigration laws, and the federal court seems to agree so far. Our nation’s immigration system is in need of reform but the best place to start is by enforcing the laws already on the books.” Economy: “What we have seen tonight is more of the same lip service that we have come to expect from President Obama when it comes to helping our economic recovery. If the Obama Administration were serious about addressing the needs of hardworking Americans, it would start by cutting Washington red tape and getting the government off the backs of the American people. Our nation’s regulatory costs are now over $1.86 trillion, which adds up to $15,000 for every American household. Having the American people foot the bill for a bloated regulatory system is not what I would consider good economic policy. “The House Judiciary Committee has taken action to lift the regulatory burdens on the American people, which is more than I can say for the President. This year alone, Congress has passed Judiciary Committee legislation to achieve at least a 15 percent reduction in the overall cost of current federal regulation, which will only lift some of the burdens pressing down on the American people from Washington. Also, the House passed comprehensive legislation to streamline the approval process for federally funded construction and infrastructure projects to put Americans back to work. It’s clear that Congress is taking real action to cut Washington’s red tape, and provide jobs to hardworking Americans, while the Obama Administration continues its empty promises like the ones we heard tonight.”