SOTU: Cramer says 'there's some good and some bad'

Talk about it

North Dakota’s U.S. House representative found President Barack Obama’s tone respectful during his State of the Union address Tuesday night in Washington, but there were some things Kevin Cramer would have liked to have heard.

“There’s some good and some bad,” Cramer told The Dickinson Press shortly after the president’s address. “The Keystone XL is a glaring omission. Instead, he talked about the oil industry like it’s a bad thing instead of a good thing. It leads me to wonder if he has any intention of approving it all.”

Cramer added that he also didn’t like the president’s reference to a manufactured debt crisis, saying that the debt crisis is real.

“The debt crisis isn’t manufactured, it’s real,” he said. “It’s a real problem. We need to get spending under control.

“He seems to be focusing on creating more government, manipulating the markets,” Cramer said.

The congressman did find himself in agreement with the president on his call for comprehensive bipartisan immigration control. Cramer believes there’s enough common ground between Democrats and Republicans on that issue to “demonstrate to the public that we’re a functional body,” he said.

Cramer also said he liked the president’s call for comprehensive bipartisan tax reform.

“I appreciate his call for that,” he said.

Cramer said he enjoyed sitting with North Dakota U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp during the address.

Tags: state of the union, kevin cramer, news, house, response