Reaction to Obama speech partisan WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Responses to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address followed partisan lines in the U.S. Congress. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Obama has not embraced policies that would allow business to create jobs for returning veterans. He said Obama has been engaged in a "host of failed stopgap policies." "Until we recognize that America's economy can't be fixed with a speech, we will continue to witness the effects of these failed policies," he said in a statement. Veterans need jobs, not promises. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Obama has laid out a plan that "values hard work, promotes fairness and rewards responsibility." "I support that plan and the president's vision for an America that helps those who are suffering, emboldens those who are working hard and playing by the rules and levels the playing field for everyone -- not just the privileged few," Durbin said. Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said Obama's policies have already helped start a recovery. "But we're not out of the woods yet -- and the challenges that remain are big ones, both for the record number of workers who are suffering from long-term joblessness and economic despair, and for the prospects of building a sustainable recovery that reaches all of America's families," Owen said.