Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) tonight released the following statement on President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“The president tonight correctly focused on jobs and the economy. Congress must work to reform the tax code and make investments that promote jobs and growth while continuing to bring our deficit under control. I was pleased the president talked about investing in manufacturing, educating our workforce and cleaner energy to fight climate change, all of which are necessary for our middle class to compete in a global economy.

“I also believe Congress must confront the looming sequester cuts, which could cost California more than 200,000 jobs if fully implemented. I support the president’s call for a more responsible package of spending cuts and revenue measures that will lead us to fiscal sustainability without crippling our economic recovery.”

“The president tonight repeated his call for Congress to pass commonsense reforms to our nation’s gun laws. I appreciate his leadership in the ongoing struggle to remove weapons of war from our streets and require universal background checks. It’s only through reasonable laws like the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, which the president supports, that we will finally begin to see a decline in the terrible mass shootings that have devastated families and traumatized the nation.”

“I’m pleased the president outlined steps to fix our broken immigration system in ways that are fair and sensible. We must meet the needs of families and workers while providing effective enforcement and security at the borders, and we have to include a pathway to earned citizenship.”

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