U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) participated in a press conference on February 8, 2012, with U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), U.S. Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.), and U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) regarding the Obama Administration's violation of Americans' religious freedom.

Aware of his failure to improve the economy over the past three years, the president has adopted a new strategy to deflect attention from his record: distract and divide. The president is attempting to distract the American people with partisan political attacks, like his campaign against so-called SuperPacs (a campaign which has weakened considerably now that the president has decided he wants a SuperPac of his own) and his decision to use his National Prayer Breakfast speech to suggest divine endorsement of his tax plans. Meanwhile, he is trying to divide the American people by employing the distinctly un-American rhetoric of class warfare to pit different groups of Americans against one another. Clearly, the president has moved a long way from "hope and change."

The American people are struggling under the effects of the Obama economy - an ever-increasing national debt, high unemployment, skyrocketing gas prices, and rising health insurance costs. Republicans have a plan to grow our economy and create an environment in which job creation can flourish. We hope Democrats will join us in reforming the tax code to fuel economic growth, stopping job-killing regulations, and increasing energy security to reduce energy prices and create American jobs.