With the press of Washington voices in the background, Congressman Artur Davis called home last night.

Davis, the District 7 representative, explained his take on President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Bush’s speech, which began with domestic issues and ended with discussion on Iraq, lasted close to an hour.

Davis disagreed with Bush about one of the first issues on the speech’s agenda: tax cuts.

Davis said that Bush was ignoring the deficit and didn’t even discuss it. He pointed to last year’s holiday shopping season, the slowest in 30 years, as an example of poor economic performance.

“We can’t think about these tax cuts the way we did two years ago,” Davis said.

Davis also said that in some cases tax cuts are fair, but in others they aren’t. He added that he wanted tax cuts that would help those in his district like middle- and low-income families.

Another domestic issue raised in Bush’s speech was health care.

Davis agreed with Bush saying that he didn’t support a national health care program, and added that he didn’t think many members of Congress supported one.

However, Davis also said no real discussion on helping people without health care was present in Bush’s address.

Bush also devoted a portion of his speech to cleaner technology, and said he wanted research funding for hydrogen-powered cars.

Davis said that while he hasn’t heard much on the subject of these cars, he was interested in the idea and added that he was looking forward to hearing proposals on them.

Davis also said that America needs to become more energy sufficient.

On the subject of foreign policy, a subject that dominated half of Bush’s address, Davis showed cautious approval of Bush’s goal.

In the speech, Bush said that more than 3,000 terrorists are in custody.

Others, however, have been dealt with by different means.

“Let’s put it this way,” Bush said, intimating that some terrorists had been killed, they “met a different fate.”

Davis said that if Bush’s goal is to roll back terrorism, then he supports it.

Bush also said that the greatest danger to the war on terror is regimes that seek nuclear weapons. He then called on the United Nations to stand by its charter and force Iraq to disarm.

America shouldn’t just follow a process, Bush said, but should also achieve results. Bush also said that America’s course doesn’t depend on the choices of other nations.

Bush said that the Security Council would be asked to meet Feb. 5 with Secretary of State Colin Powell. On that day, Bush said, Powell would show the council evidence of Iraq’s wrongdoing.

If Iraq didn’t disarm, Bush added, America would lead a coalition to disarm it.

Bush said that some people had said America shouldn’t attack Iraq until the situation had become imminent, but he questioned that thinking.

In his address, Bush asked when had terrorists ever given our country notice of an attack.

Bush also spoke to the Iraqi people Tuesday night.

“Your enemy is not surrounding your country,” Bush said. “Your enemy is ruling your country.”

Bush added that just as America aided Afghanistan it would also aid Iraq with food, medicine and freedom.

The State of the Union reached its conclusion with Bush saying that the country placed its confidence in God, and asked that God continue to bless America.