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Friend,
The first two months of 2014 have been busy in Washington and in Utah. We
just held my February tele-townhall and it was helpful to hear from citizens
from around our great state on a wide-range of issues. If you haven't done so
already, you can sign up to participate in my monthly tele-townhalls here:
I also wanted to share with you a few of the areas I have been focused on
in the Senate. Here some highlights from the last few weeks:
- Learn about my proposal that seeks to affirm religious liberty in
the military
- Listen to my interview with Doug Wright where we discussed my
response to the State of the Union Address
- Read my op-ed: The Farm Bill vs. America
- Read the text of my speech: Reforming higher education for those
who need it most
- Read my op-ed: To Create Jobs, Promote Access to Opportunity via
Human Networks
- Watch the Judiciary Committee hearing where I asked Eric Holder to
provide legal rationale for Executive Orders
- Watch my full response to the State of the Union Address
- Read the resolution I signed denouncing the President's coercion
of states into adopting Common Core standards
Today, Americans know in their hearts that something is wrong. Much of
what is wrong relates to the sense that the “American Dream” is falling out of
reach for far too many of us. We are facing an inequality crisis — that the
President has paid lip-service to, but seems uninterested in truly confronting
or correcting.
This inequality crisis presents itself in three principal forms:
- immobility among the poor, who are being trapped in poverty by
big-government programs;
- insecurity in the middle class, where families are struggling just to get by
and can’t seem to get ahead;
- and cronyist privilege at the top, where political and economic insiders
twist the immense power of the federal government to profit at the expense of
everyone else.
Where does this new inequality come from? From government — every
time it takes rights and opportunities away from the American people and gives
them instead to politicians, bureaucrats, and special interests.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln told Congress that the “leading object” of
American government was:
“to elevate the condition of men - to lift artificial weights from all
shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to afford all an
unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life.”
I am continuing to put forward legislation with colleagues on both sides of
the aisle to address the inequality crisis we face as a country and deliver to
you the type of government Lincoln described. You can follow my legislation in
areas including eliminating the double tax on hardworking parents, reforming
higher education to make it more accessible and more affordable, along with
prison, patent and regulatory reform that are part of my conservative reform
agenda on my website at www.lee.senate.gov | 
