SOTU 2013: Rand Paul & The Tea Party Response + Guests of the State of the Union
Guests of the SOTU (POLITICO)
The guests of the SOTU from offer embodiments and glimpses into the issues most important on politicians' minds.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager who was shot and killed a week after the Inaugration will be in attendance in the President's box. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a leading advocate for providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently in the country, is bringing with him a man who entered the country illegally as a teenager and now is subject to deportation. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) invited Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and her astronaut hubby, Mark Kelly will be there too to represent the gun control debate while Ted Nugent, a pro-guns advocate, will be there as well.
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In what could possibly be the most "entertaining" speech of the night, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), son of popular 3rd party candidate Ron Paul, will give the Tea Party rebuttal 5 minutes after Senator Marco Rubio's (R-FL) official GOP response. Expect this speech around 10:30pm EST
We are the party that embraces hard work and ingenuity, therefore we must be the party that embraces the immigrant who wants to come to America for a better future. We must be the party who sees immigrants as assets, not liabilities. We must be the party that says, 'If you want to work, if you want to become an American, we welcome you.'
The path we are on is not sustainable, but few in Congress or in this Administration seem to recognize that their actions are endangering the prosperity of this great nation.
Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses. It is time for a new bipartisan consensus. It is time Democrats admit that not every dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred. And it is time Republicans realize that military spending is not immune to waste and fraud.
Not only should the sequester stand, many pundits say the sequester really needs to be at least $4 trillion to avoid another downgrade of America's credit rating. Both parties will have to agree to cut, or we will never fix our fiscal mess.
Washington acts in a way that your family never could—they spend money they do not have, they borrow from future generations, and then they blame each other for never fixing the problem.
If Congress refuses to obey its own rules, if Congress refuses to pass a budget, if Congress refuses to read the bills, then I say: Sweep the place clean. Limit their terms and send them home!
