President Obama plans to tout what he calls “middle-class economics” in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, as he rolls out his push to increase taxes on top earners to fund tax breaks for the middle class and a new higher education program.
In excerpts of prepared remarks released ahead of his address, Obama points to a growing economy and a shrinking deficit and says: “It’s now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come.”
He plans to declare that, “Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don’t get in the way.”
The remarks are a blunt challenge to the Republican-controlled Congress, whose members have described his tax plan as a “non-starter.” Rather, GOP lawmakers have called for a broader tax overhaul and challenge the economic argument being used to push the latest Obama proposal.
Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged the president to look beyond “more tired tax hikes,” and instead strive for “responsible reforms that aim to balance the budget.”
He also sounded a middle-class message, but urged the president to boost workers with bipartisan jobs bills, including by backing efforts to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
The president does not touch on Keystone in the excerpts released by the White House, but instead cites government protections and entitlement programs – like Social Security and Medicare – that he says were meant to give everyone a “fair shot.”
“That’s what middle-class economics is – the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” Obama says.
The argument, and focus on government protections and programs, could well set the tone for his final two years in office. The White House over the weekend unveiled a plan calling for more than $300 billion in tax hikes over 10 years – including on investment and inheritance taxes for top earners – to fund tax credit expansions for the middle class, as well as a program providing free community college for two years for students who keep up their grades.
In his speech, Obama also plans to mark not only economic gains but the wind-down of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
“Tonight, we turn the page,” he plans to say.
The president addresses the terror threat and, specifically, America’s effort to, along with its allies, fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“In Iraq and Syria, American leadership – including our military power – is stopping ISIL’s advance,” Obama says. “Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group.”
Though U.S. airstrike campaigns are well underway, he plans to call on Congress to pass a resolution formally authorizing the use of force against the Islamic State.
He also plans to urge Congress to pass new cybersecurity legislation, an appeal that comes in the wake of the devastating hack against Sony Pictures, which the administration blames on North Korea.
“No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids,” Obama says.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who was elected in November to an open Iowa seat, plans to deliver the official Republican response to Obama Tuesday night. In excerpts of her prepared remarks, the senator presents a markedly different picture of the economy, where Americans “agonize over stagnant wages and lost jobs.”
“Americans have been hurting, but when we demanded solutions, too often Washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like ObamaCare. It’s a mindset that gave us political talking points, not serious solutions,” she plans to say.
On the tax front, Ernst calls for simplifying America’s “outdated and loophole-ridden tax code” – not to finance more spending but improve the economy.
“Republicans think tax filing should be easier for you, not just the well-connected. So let’s iron out loopholes to lower rates — and create jobs, not pay for more government spending,” she plans to say. “The president has already expressed some support for these kinds of ideas. We’re calling on him now to cooperate to pass them.”
The president will deliver his second-to-last State of the Union with a weakened political hand, after Republicans took control of the Senate and built a historic majority in the House.
Yet, after telling Democratic allies he plans to play “offense” against the GOP-led Congress, Obama has outlined an ambitious agenda likely to meet heavy resistance on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Many of the items expected in Tuesday’s address were previewed in the weeks leading up to it.
Aside from criticizing the tax plan, Republicans have questioned the mechanics of Obama’s call to provide free community college for two years.
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