Iowa's congressional delegation reacts to Obama speech

Members of Iowa's congressional delegation had mixed reviews of President Barack Obama's jobs speech to the nation Thursday night.

Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, said the president gave an excellent speech.

“But what really matters at this point is moving forward,” he added.

Loebsack said he liked the president's proposal for an infrastructure bank that would help states like Iowa fund transportation and road projects.

He also said the president's proposal has a chance of congressional approval.

“I'm hopeful, but I'm not going to make predictions on what's going to happen,” Loebsack said.

Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, said he hoped the speech would help Congress refocus on jobs.

“Ideas like extending the payroll tax cut for middle class families and investments in roads and highways should attract support from Republicans and Democrats,” Braley said in a statement.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was far more critical.

“I think that the substance we needed to hear was missing,” King said. “From the beginning it was ‘we're going to pay for all of it, all of it's paid for.' And when you get finished listening to this speech there's nothing there that tells us how pay for all this other than ‘you guys can figure that out.'”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Obama's speech was “more of the same, especially with what was in the stimulus bill.

“That massive government spending bill passed two years ago, right after the President took office, and was touted by the administration as a way to keep unemployment below eight percent, which it hasn't by a long shot,” Grassley said in a statement. When we've tested something like that, and it failed, we need to try something new.”