Pursuing an aggressive and diverse early second-term agenda, President Obama turned his focus Tuesday night squarely to the economy, using his State of the Union address to unveil new government initiatives aimed at creating jobs.
The defining duty of the new Congress and new administration is to “reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth — a rising, thriving middle class,” Obama said Tuesday night from the House chamber.
“That must be the North Star that guides our efforts,” he said.
Obama’s proposals had a familiar ring, including re-packaged economic ideas but also offering several bold new measures aimed at boosting the middle class.
None of the proposals would add to the deficit “by a single dime,” Obama pledged, with costs offset by savings carved out in the budget and from money saved from ending two wars.
“It’s not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth,” Obama said.
For the first time as president, Obama called for raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour by 2015. He proposed to ensure future increases by indexing the minimum wage to inflation.
He proposed a national goal of universal pre-school education, an effort to help states provide tens of thousands of low- to middle-income four-year-old children access to quality public education from an earlier age.
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article courtesy of ABCNEWS.com
