|
| President Barack Obama walks along the Colonnade at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, hours before giving his State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Declaring that upward economic mobility has stalled for millions
of Americans, President Barack Obama is challenging a deeply divided
Congress to restore the nation's belief in "opportunity for all" - while
telling lawmakers he will act on his own "wherever and whenever" he
can.
"America does not stand still and neither
will I," Obama was saying in his State of the Union address Tuesday
night. Excerpts of his remarks were released in advance.
The
president's address, delivered before a joint session of Congress and
millions of Americans watching on television, marks the opening salvo in
a midterm election fight that will quickly consume Washington.
Democrats, seeking to cast Republicans as protectors of the rich, have
pressed Obama to focus more on issues of economic fairness and shrinking
the gap between the wealthy and the poor.
The
initiatives Obama planned to unveil Tuesday night were tailored to fit
those themes. He was to announce executive action to raise the minimum
wage for new federal contracts, help the long-term unemployed find work
and expand job-training programs. He also planned to renew his calls for
Congress to expand the minimum wage increase to all workers, pass a
sweeping immigration overhaul and increase access to early childhood
education programs - all initiatives that stalled after Obama first
announced them in last year's State of the Union address.
While
unemployment is falling and financial markets are soaring, Obama
acknowledged that many Americans have yet to see effects of any broader
economic recovery.
"The cold, hard fact is
that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more
than ever just to get by, let alone get ahead," Obama says. "And too
many still aren't working at all."
Obama's
go-it-alone strategy, with modest steps for now, is aimed both at
jumpstarting his stagnant second term and prodding a divided Congress to
take additional action to boost economic opportunity for millions of
Americans. But there's little indication lawmakers are ready to follow
along, particularly as the nation barrels toward the midterm elections.
Keenly
aware of Congress' slim record of recent accomplishments, White House
officials see a robust rollout of executive actions as the most
effective way to show the public that Obama still wields power as the
clock ticks on his presidency.
Yet much of
what the president can do on his own is limited, as evidenced by the
minimum wage proposal officials previewed ahead of Tuesday's prime-time
address. The executive order will increase the minimum hourly payment
for new federal contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10. But because the
measure affects only future contracts, its immediate impact will be
minimal.
"The question is how many people, Mr.
President, will this executive action actually help?" said House
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "I suspect the answer is somewhere close
to zero."
The White House says the wage hike
would most benefit janitors and construction laborers working under new
federal contracts, as well as military base workers who wash dishes,
serve food and do laundry. But officials did not say how many people
would fall into those categories.
Obama will
seek to build on the executive order by renewing his call for Congress
to pass a minimum wage increase for all American workers, a proposal
that gained little traction after he first announced it in last year's
State of the Union address. But White House officials feel somewhat
optimistic that they could get backing this year given that some
Republican lawmakers have also indicated an interest in working on
income inequality and economic mobility issues.
Washington's
current focus on inequality comes as many parts of the economy are
gaining strength. But the soaring financial markets and corporate
balance sheets stand in contrast to the millions of people still out of
work or struggling with stagnant incomes that don't stretch as far as
they used to.
Seeking to address those issues,
Obama will also announce executive actions on job training, boosting
employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed and expanding
retirement savings for low- and middle-income Americans.
The
retirement savings proposal is geared toward workers whose employers
don't currently offer such plans. The program would allow first-time
savers to start building up savings in Treasury bonds that eventually
could be converted into traditional IRAs, according to two people who
have discussed the proposal with the administration. Those people
weren't authorized to discuss the plan ahead of the announcement and
insisted on anonymity.
Obama will also tout an
initiative to secure commitments from big corporations not to
discriminate against the long-term unemployed during hiring.
Representatives from major companies will join the president at the
White House on Friday to promote the effort.
Some
Republicans have warned that the president's focus on executive orders
could backfire by angering GOP leaders who already don't trust the White
House.
"The more he tries to do it alone and
do confrontation, the less he's going to be able to get cooperation,"
said John Feehery, a former top House Republican aide.
The
president will still try to score a few legislative victories this
year, namely an overhaul of the nation's broken immigration laws. The
Senate passed landmark legislation last summer, but the effort stalled
in the Republican-led House. Conservatives are pushing back against the
president's call to create a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million
people living in the U.S. illegally. And some Democrats would prefer to
use the unresolved issue to mobilize Hispanic voters for this year's
elections.
Obama will follow his State of the
Union address with a quick trip Wednesday and Thursday to Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee to promote his proposals.
