WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman issued the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

“Facing high unemployment rates, rising gasoline costs and ever increasing regulatory burdens, Arkansans and all Americans, need to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s time the President stop finger-pointing and reach-out to work together on common sense solutions to the problems and the challenges facing our country.”

“Time and time again, the President’s rhetoric hasn’t matched his actions. His call for reducing our energy dependence comes on the heels of his rejection for a permit to build a pipeline that would decrease our need to rely on hostile regimes for fuel sources while simultaneously increasing jobs.”

"President Obama spoke of an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy on energy and noted it was American ingenuity, investment and hard work that built major infrastructure projects like the Hoover Dam and the interstate system.  I’d remind the President that we could be building the Keystone Pipeline which would put 20,000 Americans to work and lower gas prices for us all.  There is no reason for him to have denied this major infrastructure project from getting off the ground.”

“We certainly need to reform the tax code, close loopholes and ensure that the middle class are not bearing the brunt of the tax burden.  However, President Obama’s vision of ‘fairness’ is based on the idea that raising taxes on the American people and our small business owners can solve our economic problems.  Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.  Americans are calling on Washington to do as they do, which is to devise a budget and live within our means, something that the Senate Majority has refused to do for the last 1,000 days.”

"I am willing to work with President Obama to jumpstart job growth in the private sector, pave the way for energy independence so we aren’t forced to rely on radical regimes for fuel sources and make it easier for small business to provide employment opportunities by alleviating hurdles to job creation. The President must be part of the solution and he needs to start by leading by example.

Watch Senator Boozman's interview with CSPAN about the President's State of the Union address.