Virginia Reacts To Obama’s Last State Of The Union

“Tonight, President Obama reflected on the significant progress our country has made over the past seven years and challenged us to reach higher,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). “After assuming office in the midst of a global fiscal collapse and two open-ended wars, President Obama has patiently worked to rebuild a more sustainable economy, inspire an innovative and cleaner energy future, advance the equality and health of all citizens and reinvigorated diplomacy as a major measure of American strength.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) echoed Kaine’s views: ““I’m glad the President laid out the remarkable progress we’ve made over the last seven years and acknowledged that we are living in a time of extraordinary change,” Sen. Warner said. “Twenty-first century innovation and technology is disrupting and transforming every aspect of our lives, from the way Americans work to the security threats we are forced to confront.”

Kaine said he welcomed Obama’s call for authorizing military force against ISIL.

“I appreciate President Obama’s renewed call for Congress to finally come together to recognize ISIL as our enemy and authorize the use of military force against the terrorist group, but I’m disappointed another State of the Union has gone by without action from our country’s elected leaders on this critical issue – one that has left our servicemembers deployed to fight over the past 17 months without the most important signal of support we can offer,” he said.