Washington, DC – The President laid out the economic and fiscal challenges facing the country tonight in the State of the Union. The measures the President announced move in the right direction, but we will need strong, sustained leadership from both the President and Congress to overcome these challenges.

For his entering argument the President has thrown down a gauntlet of a partial budget freeze. But by excluding security and non-discretionary spending, the vast majority of the budget is still in play. So let’s be clear, this is a relatively small measure in the big scheme of things, but it’s a start. He also proposed a budget commission to make recommendations on hard spending and revenue decisions facing Congress. He called on Congress to continue down the road of earmark reform.

A spending freeze, a budget commission and more earmark reform is not going to solve our long-term fiscal problems. But coupled together, these initiatives will demonstrate that Washington has gotten the message and that while we are fighting a difficult economy, we also have to get our fiscal house in order. Now Congress must demonstrate the will to tackle these challenging and politically tough issues. Already we’ve seen both parties in Congress pointing fingers, with one side saying the financial hole we’re in was the result of a decade of excess and the other side claiming that these proposals don’t go far enough. They’re both right. But the American public wants Congress to come up with solutions, not excuses.

Getting our nation on the path to fiscal recovery is going to take increased revenues and spending cuts. That means a hard look at our tax policies and entitlement programs as well as general spending. It is going to hurt. But someday the party has to end. The budgetary hangover has already started; it’s time to deal with it.