Sen. Orrin Hatch responds to Pres. Obama's speech on the economy

Related: Obama: Congress, Europe must act quickly to stem economic crisis

With the announcement that the unemployment rate hit an all time high of 8.2 percent, the debt crisis in Europe is hurting the American economy and the creation of jobs has slowed, President Barack Obama took a few minutes to discuss the economy in a White House news conference on Friday.

During the conference, Obama made accusations that Republicans were making poor policy decisions that would lengthen the economic recovery in the U.S. He also requested that the leaders in Europe work to contain their debt crisis and prevent it from causing problems for the rest of the world.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement in response to Obama's speech:

"With all due respect to the President, his speech felt more like an episode of the Twilight Zone than a real economic plan to get America back to work. This is a reality where the private sector is doing just fine; Europe is the real problem; and spending more money we don't have is the answer. The President should take a page from Harry Truman who famously said 'the buck stops here,' because blaming everyone but himself for his failed economic agenda that's added trillions to the debt, frozen job creation at record levels, and stalled businesses expansion is neither a plan nor a solution to the challenges facing our nation today.

"The American people deserve real presidential leadership to make the tough choices and enact real pro-growth policies and reforms to create lasting economic growth that will provide our children and grandchildren with a bright future. Unfortunately, the President spent more time talking about reforms in Europe than he did about much-needed reforms here in America. Mr. President, it's time to stop campaigning and finally get in the game to work to prevent the largest tax hike in history that would hit every single tax-paying American and further weaken our struggling economy."