Despite repeated calls for bipartisnaship in his State of the Union address, Republicans have hit back at US President Barack Obama saying his call for a three-year freeze on discretionary spending was a move in the right direction, but failed to go far enough.
"The president's partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one," said Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who gave the Republican response to Obama's first State of the Union speech.
Obama sent a signal to Americans worried about government debt being piled up for future generations, by announcing the partial freeze on 15 percent of the non-security budget in the hope of saving some US$250bn by 2020.
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But McDonnell warned: "The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household. This is simply unsustainable."
He accused Democrats of continuing "deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren."
"One in 10 American workers is unemployed. That is unacceptable," McDonnell added.
"Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector's ability to create new jobs."
Obama attempted to make clear a new jobs policy, proposing US$30bn to help community banks fund small businesses, calling for small business tax credits to go to firms hiring new workers or increasing wages, and announcing a plan to eliminate capital gains tax on small businesses.
But this appears to have missed some of his Republican opponents.
"We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation so America can better compete with the world. What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.", McDonnell saud after the address.
Obama blames Republicans for deficit
On the issue of the deficit, Obama made sure to put the blame of clearly at the feet of the Republicans, citing the decline in the US's finances since the election of George W Bush in 2000.
Obama said he would 'set the record straight', emphasising that it was not his government's policies that drove the US's deficit so deep.
"If we had started in ordinary times I would have liked nothing more than to bring the deficit down, but we took office in a crisis", he said.
"If I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will", he said to applause.
