Former Congressman Bob Barr released the following statement regarding the President's State of the Union address.

“Regretably the President did not address one critical issue facing America as we continue searching for ways to fight terrorism -- how we must not sacrifice our civil liberties, including our right to privacy. Instead, he called for an end to the sunset provisions that will apply to some provisions of the PATRIOT ACT. Rather than seeking to expand government powers to gather evidence on law-abiding citizens, we ought to be looking for ways to balance civil liberties with necessary security measures.”

“The President called for 'limiting' increases in federal spending to 4 percent. As a fiscal conservative, I was hoping the President would instead call for a halt to increases in federal spending, not simply to limit the increases. Besides, previous promises to limit increases in spending have not been met.