WASHINGTON — Promising a “year of action,” U.S. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday in his state of the union address that he will bypass Congress and take unilateral action to implement a broad range of policy initiatives unless lawmakers agree to his agenda.
He said the U.S. government has for several years been “consumed by a rancorous” debate over the size of the federal government. “When that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy — when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States — then we are not doing right by the American people.”
“America does not stand still — and neither will I,” he continued. “So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Speaking for more than an hour, he said a significant part of his program will be to target the growing income gap between the rich and literally everybody else that, government figures show, is swelling the ranks of the poor and threatening the middle class.
“Inequality has deepened,” he said. “Upward mobility has stalled. 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. And too many still aren’t working at all.”
“Opportunity is who we are,” he added. “And the defining project of our generation is to restore that promise.”
Firing his first shot across the congressional bow, he started the day by issuing an executive order raising the minimum wage, to $10.10 from $7.25, for employees of federal contractors. These include, for example, civilian workers who service federal buildings and military bases.
“No one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty,” he said.
He urged Congress to extend the hike to all Americans. “Give Americans a raise,” he said to great applause from Democrats.
Obama has been calling for an increase in the minimum wage, which for years has been below the poverty line, since 2008. The Republicans have refused, claiming — wrongly, according to most economists — it would result in job losses. Some Republicans favour lowering it to $3.00.
The White House believes an increased minimum wage will help pull people out of poverty and grow the economy. Low-income workers are more likely than wealthy people to spend every extra dollar they earn. U.S. consumer spending is responsible for 70 per cent of the economy.
US Vice President Joe Biden (L) confers with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R), R-OH, prior to US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on January 28, 2014 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
Obama promised he will take executive action to create a “starter” retirement fund for all Americans and a series of job-creating programs. In addition, he called on Congress to broaden access for the disadvantaged to pre-education and college. He will also act unilaterally, if necessary, to instigate immigration reform, infrastructure development and stronger environmental regulations.
“Immigration reform will grow our economy by more than $1 trillion over the next two decades,” he said. “And for good reason: when people come here to fulfil their dreams — to study, invent, and contribute to our culture — they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone.”
While budgeting remains the exclusive prerogative of Congress, Obama essentially can do what he wants. The courts will decide if his actions are legal. Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover used an executive order to cut immigration by 90 per cent at the start of the Great Depression. John F. Kennedy issued an executive order to start the Peace Corps, which only later became law.
To date, Obama has been reluctant to use the full authority of his office, preferring to take what he considers to be the more democratic route through Congress. But last year the Republican-controlled House passed only two of 41 Obama’s legislative initiatives. Ending the 16-day partial government shutdown and renewing the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 were his two successes.
Obama has used executive power sparingly in the past to strengthen greenhouse gas emission regulations and in some areas of the immigration law.
With midterm congressional elections looming in November and an approval rating that slipped 11 points to 44 per cent since last year’s address, Obama has to find a way to show that he can tackle the country’s problems.
As he embarks on his new take-charge approach, he can take comfort from at least one heartening note. Voters dislike Congress and the Republicans even more than they dislike him. Approval of Congress is at a record low 13 per cent and only 24 per cent for the Republicans.
Obama also said he intends to go directly to business and local government to seek consensus on a broad range of economic issues designed to restore vitality to the middle class.
Later this week he is scheduled to meet with the CEOs of major corporations, who, he says, have agreed to stop discriminating against the long-term unemployed.
A woman bundled against the cold walks past the US Capitol dome prior to US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on January 28, 2014 in Washington. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
He also called on Congress to grant legal status to the country’s 11.4 million undocumented immigrants. Many of them work in agriculture, construction and the service industry, playing a significant roll in propping up the economy.
Many Republicans argue that granting illegal immigrants citizenship would reward them for breaking the law. More recently, however, some senior Republicans have expressed support for a compromise that would grant legal status but stop short of citizenship.
The past year witnessed an almost total rejection of the agenda Obama outlined in 2013. Gun control, immigration reform and tax reform never made it past the start line. There is general recognition that Obama is running out of time particularly since the Democrats might lose the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
“I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress,” he said.
Deficit reduction was a major part of Obama’s state of the union address last year, but this time he referred to it only in passing. December’s budget agreement erased crisis management governance at least for another year. Obama indicated in his speech he is more interested in boosting the economy than worrying about a deficit, particularly since its percentage of U.S. GDP continues to decline.
On his international agenda, Obama said he intends to continue with the withdrawal of U.S. troops form Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that the goal of clearing the country of its terrorist strongholds after more than 10 years has failed. With terrorist bases expanding into Yemen and into North Africa, many congressmen say the problem appears to have worsened.
Obama also addressed the more promising issue of Iran. He said a diplomatic settlement to restrict its nuclear program and to establish normal relations would go a long way in easing tensions across the Middle East.
“If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today,” he said.
He then threatened to veto any bill that brought new sanctions against Iran while negotiations continue, as the Republican House has threatened to do.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who gave the Republican response, said Obama’s promises “sound good but won’t actually solve the problems facing America.”
She called on a program that will reduce government red tape to give Americans the freedom to build their own futures without government interference.
“We hope the president will join us in a year of action that empowers people,” she said.
The full text of Obama’s speech
State of the union — at a glance
What is it?
It is a speech that allows the U.S. president to lay out his agenda for the following year. The American constitution requires the president to “from time to time give to Congress information of the state of the union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”.
When was the first one?
The first such report to Congress was delivered by president George Washington in New York City in 1790. It was only 1,089 words. By contrast, president Bill Clinton’s speeches always clocked in over an hour long.
Was it always a big deal?
No. The early speeches did not include the pageantry and formal responses of today’s televised speech. From 1800 to 1912 the speech was a written text delivered to Congress by the White House. Woodrow Wilson reinstated the tradition of the speech.
Was it always delivered at night?
No. President Lyndon Johnson moved the speech to prime time to capture a larger television audience and speak more to Americans than to Congress.
More #SOTU fun facts
Spread the word
The speech has been broadcast on radio since 1923, on television since 1947 and today has its own Twitter hashtag #SOTU.
The First Lady’s Box
According to the White House website, the first lady has the prerogative to invite special guests to listen to the speech from her private viewing box. Often, these people are visual symbols of a policy or event the president highlights in his speech. Guests for this year’s speech announced so far — there are normally a few kept secret until the speech begins — include survivors of the Boston marathon bombing, the first professional basketball player to come of the closet, a 16-year-old inventor, a woman struggling with crushing student debt and the fire chief of Oklahoma town devastated by a tornado earlier this year.
Feedback not always welcome
In 2009 Republican congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina shouted “you lie” to Obama in the middle of his inaugural state of the union speech.
Party lines are sometimes porous
For the 2011 speech Democrats and Republicans sat together mixed up in the chamber instead of seating by party lines. This was a response to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords a few weeks earlier and an attempt to show the American public the two parties could work together.
The designated survivor
The state of the union speech brings together every important person in government in one room: the president, vice-president, all of Congress, the heads of the military, the justices of the Supreme Court, ambassadors, cabinet members and foreign dignitaries. One cabinet member stays away, chosen by the president to be the “designated survivor” in the unlikely event something catastrophic occurs. In 2013 Energy Secretary Steve Chu was the designated survivor.
— Compiled by Kirsten Smith, Postmedia News.
