WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will be looking across a vast partisan divide on Tuesday night as he reports to Congress and the nation, hoping he can bend recalcitrant lawmakers to join him in a second-term drive to boost taxes to raise government spending power and to reform laws on gun ownership and immigration.
The annual State of the Union speech, which is closely monitored as the presidential blueprint for his goals for the year, is expected to push for the ambitious progressive plans Obama outlined in his second inaugural address three weeks ago.
The president's priorities also include easing back on spending cuts and addressing climate change.
Aware of the partisan gridlock gripping Washington, Obama is banking on his popularity and the political capital from his convincing re-election in November as he calls on Americans to join him in persuading opposition lawmakers to stop stonewalling his vision for what he calls a fairer country with greater opportunity for all.
With Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and exerting influence in the Senate, Obama intends to employ all the tools at his disposal in an effort to win over the public to put pressure on Congress.
Obama plans immediately afterward to make a two-day, three-state foray to take his message directly to the American people.
Congress fought the president to a near standstill on virtually every White House initiative during his first term _ though he succeeded in overhauling the health care system.
In his second term, Obama has decided that he may stand a better chance of moving his agenda through Congress by garnering support from outside the capital rather than from within.
Massive federal spending cuts that will hit the U.S. economy on March 1 if a compromise isn't hammered out with Congress will surely color Obama's speech like nothing else.
Some economists predict those cuts, known as the sequester, could push the United States back into recession even before it has fully recovered from the Great Recession _ the most serious economic downturn in more than 70 years.
The cuts will slice deeply into spending for the Pentagon and a range of social programs. Obama says he wants ``a balanced approach'' to tackling the spiraling deficit with a mix of increased tax revenue and cuts in spending.
The opposition declares it will not give ground on raising taxes, insisting that revamping the tax code to close loopholes that benefit the wealthiest Americans and the corporate sector is not open for consideration.
And while the sequester, which grew out of a failure to reach a deal in 2011, was conceived as a budget bludgeon unacceptable to both parties, some Republicans now are threatening to let it go forward if Obama does not agree to big cuts in the so-called social safety net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care and other assistance to the elderly and poor, as well as Social Security retirement benefits.
indiatimes.com
The annual State of the Union speech, which is closely monitored as the presidential blueprint for his goals for the year, is expected to push for the ambitious progressive plans Obama outlined in his second inaugural address three weeks ago.
The president's priorities also include easing back on spending cuts and addressing climate change.
Aware of the partisan gridlock gripping Washington, Obama is banking on his popularity and the political capital from his convincing re-election in November as he calls on Americans to join him in persuading opposition lawmakers to stop stonewalling his vision for what he calls a fairer country with greater opportunity for all.
With Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and exerting influence in the Senate, Obama intends to employ all the tools at his disposal in an effort to win over the public to put pressure on Congress.
Obama plans immediately afterward to make a two-day, three-state foray to take his message directly to the American people.
Congress fought the president to a near standstill on virtually every White House initiative during his first term _ though he succeeded in overhauling the health care system.
In his second term, Obama has decided that he may stand a better chance of moving his agenda through Congress by garnering support from outside the capital rather than from within.
Massive federal spending cuts that will hit the U.S. economy on March 1 if a compromise isn't hammered out with Congress will surely color Obama's speech like nothing else.
Some economists predict those cuts, known as the sequester, could push the United States back into recession even before it has fully recovered from the Great Recession _ the most serious economic downturn in more than 70 years.
The cuts will slice deeply into spending for the Pentagon and a range of social programs. Obama says he wants ``a balanced approach'' to tackling the spiraling deficit with a mix of increased tax revenue and cuts in spending.
The opposition declares it will not give ground on raising taxes, insisting that revamping the tax code to close loopholes that benefit the wealthiest Americans and the corporate sector is not open for consideration.
And while the sequester, which grew out of a failure to reach a deal in 2011, was conceived as a budget bludgeon unacceptable to both parties, some Republicans now are threatening to let it go forward if Obama does not agree to big cuts in the so-called social safety net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care and other assistance to the elderly and poor, as well as Social Security retirement benefits.
indiatimes.com
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