Senator Collins' Statement Following the President's State of the Union Address

      WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following President Obama’s State of the Union address this evening, U.S. Senator Susan Collins released the following statement:
 
      “The people of Maine, and of this country, expect the President and Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to work together to improve the lives of hardworking Americans.  Tonight, I was pleased to hear the President call for our country to come together to tackle the challenges we face.  The problems, both at home and abroad, are too important to be stymied by incivility, extremism, or hyper-partisanship.  I hope that the President will follow through on his call for cooperation and work in a bipartisan fashion rather than resorting to executive orders which exacerbate political tensions and circumvent Congress.  The President’s support for a greater investment in biomedical research has broad, bipartisan appeal and is an example of where we can work together to advance more effective treatments and even cures or a means of prevention of diseases that affect so many American families.

      “I am concerned that the President did not present a strategy for dealing with terrorism.  While President Obama is certainly correct that Islamist extremist groups do not pose a threat to our country’s existence, he does not appear to have a comprehensive strategy for defeating ISIS, al Qaeda, and similar terrorist groups that seek to harm Americans and our allies.”