WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued this following statement in response to President Trump’s first State of the Union address:

“Someone should have told President Trump before his speech that a soaring stock market won’t produce soaring wages for working families, and that trillion-dollar tax cuts for big corporations won’t stop them from laying off American workers while they shower wealthy investors with billions in stock buybacks.

“The truth is that it’s hard to judge the content of a State of the Union Address when you are listening to a President whose words rarely align with reality. This evening, we heard President Trump talk about rebuilding our infrastructure, and yet his plan amounts to yet another tax increase on New Jersey families in the form of toll hikes.

“We heard the President talk about growing the middle class, but millions of middle class families in New Jersey and across the country are bracing for higher tax bills, and 3.5 million Americans have lost their health care coverage under this Administration’s watch.

“We heard President Trump talk about protecting America’s Dreamers from his own mass deportation force, but already he has rejected our bipartisan agreement and replaced it with a ransom note that holds hardworking young people hostage in exchange for a $25 billion wall and the obliteration of our family immigration system.

“We heard President Trump talk about putting America first, but just today we learned his Administration refused to impose any of the sanctions mandated by Congress in the wake of Russia’s attack on our 2016 elections.

“In this country, even the most divisive President in history has a First Amendment right to talk about unity and bipartisanship and love. The bottom line is that after a year of erratic leadership, hateful rhetoric, and broken promises, President Trump’s actions in the days ahead will speak louder than words read from tonight’s teleprompter.”

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