Joe Wilson: Obama Speech Full of ‘Empty Promises’

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech was full of “rhetoric that does nothing but guarantee empty promises.”

“Now is the time for the president to work with Congress to achieve balanced solutions to put our economy back on the path to prosperity,” the Republican congressman said in a statement. “This evening’s remarks by President Obama conveyed to the American people that our Commander-in-Chief does not believe we have a spending problem.”

During Obama’s State of the Union speech in 2009, Wilson shouted “You lie” after the president said that illegal immigrants would not benefit from ObamaCare.

Wilson was heavily criticized for breaching decorum with the outburst.

“Last Congress, House Republicans passed legislation that supported an all-of-the-above energy proposal, a balanced-approach replacement for the impending sequester, and a national security strategy that kept American families safe,” Wilson said on Tuesday. “We were able to conquer our objectives while striving to put our fiscal house in order.

“Unfortunately, the president and his colleagues in the Senate have refused to consider our efforts or even negotiate with us,” he said.

“Over the next four years, the only way our nation will begin to fully recover is if the president begins to change course,” Wilson added. “It is my hope that he will extend an olive branch and work with House Republicans to help put our economy back on the right path.”