Rep. Michael Michaud of Maine criticized the Bush administration Saturday for not being in touch with working Americans.

In the Democratic response to President Bush’s weekly radio address, Michaud took aim at the Bush administration for the lack of job growth, the Bush tax cuts and what he characterized as a flawed Medicare prescription drug plan.

His response aired Saturday on major radio networks. It was taped on Friday.

“In the last week we have heard a lot about what Republicans plan to do in the name of the American people,” Michaud said. “But sometimes I wonder if anyone in this administration has actually met any of the people they claim to be working for – people like the hardworking, struggling families I represent in northern Maine.”

During his address, Michaud made reference to his nearly 30 years of experience at the Great Northern Paper mill in northern Maine before he went to Congress.

Great Northern filed for bankruptcy last year and shut down its two mills, leaving more than 1,100 people without jobs. One of the mills has since reopened, with just 400 employees, under a new owner.

Michaud used that experience to say he can relate with working Americans “who love their families, live up to their responsibilities, follow all the rules and still wake up one day without a job, without a pension, unable to pay for their health care or their children’s college education.”

Michaud criticized the Bush administration’s tax cuts, which he said disproportionately helps the wealthy. He further said the Bush administration and the House Republican leadership have forced their agenda on Congress.