Goodlatte, Perriello react to Obama speech

What was the reaction to President Obama’s speech? WSLS checked in with two of our area congressman, Democrat Tom Perriello and Republican Bob Goodlatte, to get their take.

It should be pointed out that both men have remained opposed to portions of the plans making their way through Congress.

WARREN: “What did you think about the speech?”

PERRIELLO: “I thought it was extremely encouraging that we are focusing on the right thing which is cost savings. And I think it was very important to me that we not vote in July that we take August to hear from the American people. I think what you saw tonight was much more of a reflection of the concerns we have heard from folks. That’s what I’m going to need to see in the bill to move toward yes; absolute commitment to deficit neutrality, commitment to brining those costs down, those premiums down for middle class families.”

WARREN: “If the House bill resembles what the president discussed tonight would you be able to support it?”

PERRIELLO: “Well I’ve been in the know on what exists but I think there were some very encouraging new proposals on the table tonight. I want to dig into them and see where they take us.”

WARREN: “Are you more willing to support what the president outlined tonight than you would be the bills that are being drafted by the House and Senate chambers at this time?”

GOODLATTE: “What we are trying to figure out now is what the differences are between what the president talked about tonight and what is in those bills. A lot of the things he talked about tonight are a defense of those bills. He did say that he would veto a bill that increased the federal deficit by one dime. The Congressional Budget Office says the legislation working its way through Congress increases the federal deficit by a quarter of a trillion dollars. He said the cost of the plan was $900 billion but his own General Accounting Office says it will cost $1.6 trillion dollars. If he is talking about reworking this to meet those new numbers, we certainly want to participate in that. If he is simply casting a re-defense of the existing bill to Congress, I think the American people are not going to be happy about that.”

You may have heard one Republican Congressman shout “lie” during the president’s speech. I asked both Congressmen Perriello and Goodlatte about that. They both said Republicans and Democrats were very respectful during most of the speech and that one instance shouldn’t be taken as a reflection of the overall reaction to the speech.