Release: DPG Chair DuBose Porter on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Chairman Porter commends President’s bold vision for our country, calls on Georgia Republicans to work with Democrats

Release:  Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Dublin, GA – Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter released the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

“Tonight, President Obama made it very clear that 2014 will be a year of action for our country. The President gave Republicans a choice — become a part of the solution or get out of the way,” said Chairman Porter.

“President Obama took a significant step in building America’s middle class by addressing economic inequality. By raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10, we are beginning to close the gap between a fair wage and a fair day’s work while at the same time increasing the purchasing power of the greatest workforce in the world. All Americans want is a fighting chance – a fighting chance to earn their way in to the middle class and a fighting chance to provide for their families.”

Chairman Porter tied the President’s message to an effort underway in Georgia, where Democrats are pushing for an increase in our state’s minimum wage. “$5.15 is simply not a fair wage for a fair day’s work. It’s time for Georgia to follow the President’s lead and increase our minimum wage.”

In addition to a fare wage for a day’s work, the Chairman commended the President for unabashedly supporting equal pay for equal work for women.

“I think it’s fitting that the President made equal pay for women and support for workplace fairness a core portion of his address on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Act. It was disgraceful to watch Republicans in Congress sit in their seats, with stoic faces, refusing to even clap at the idea of equality for women,” said Chairman Porter.

“President Obama said it best: When women succeed, America succeeds. The same holds true for Georgia. When women succeed, Georgia succeeds. Right now women can’t succeed with a bunch of Republicans under our Gold Dome preserving their archaic ideals of inequality through legislation,” said Chairman Porter. “This war waged on women—a war just this week Republicans acknowledged—has got to stop.”

Throughout the State of the Union, the nation heard the President address the problem of a shrinking middle class–an issue all too familiar for many Georgians.

“Tonight, the President charted a course for our country to expand opportunity to anyone who wants to work hard and play by the rules. Yet, Republicans in Congress have been extraordinarily hostile to the President’s administration and have already opposed many of his commonsense solutions. Just this past fall, the GOP proved that if they don’t get their way, they will just shut down the entire government,” stated Chairman Porter.

“What’s sad is that the President’s remarks on GOP obstructionism and misplaced priorities hit too close to home here in Georgia. Under Nathan Deal, our state has never passed an equal pay bill, lags in investments in education and job training, and has left too many working families behind while helping campaign contributors leap ahead,” the Chairman concluded. “In Nathan Deal’s Georgia, the middle class doesn’t just need a jump start, it needs to be raised from the dead.”

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