President Obama, during a visit to Austin, Texas, on Thursday, asked Americans to urge Congress to pass his proposals on jobs, education and raising the minimum wage.
WASHINGTON -- President Obama said Thursday that the United States was “poised for progress,” but accused Congress of thwarting his efforts to get new economic initiatives off the ground.
Speaking at a high school in Manor, Texas, Obama said he would keep fighting even though Republicans have opposed his efforts to create jobs, raise wages and “help more young people get a good education and afford college.” “Some of them have been blocked in Congress for, frankly, political reasons,” he said. “I'm going to keep on trying. You know, I'm an optimistic guy.”
The president’s day trip was one of a series he plans to make highlighting a wish list of policies he outlined in his State of the Union speech earlier this year. The plans -- universal preschool, curbing the cost of college tuition and large investments in “innovation centers” -- don’t appear to be going anywhere in Congress and the White House has talked little about them since Obama announced them.
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The massive overhaul of the immigration system and the ongoing budget fight are expected to dominate the legislative agenda until the end of the year. Still, the president said he planned to regularly venture out of Washington to stump for these essentially dead proposals.
On Thursday’s trip, Obama aides insisted the president went to the Austin area because it is a center for innovation and high-tech jobs and not because Democrats are trying to win Republican seats in next year’s congressional elections. Democratic strategists are hoping the party will make inroads in Texas by capitalizing on its large Latino voter population.
“I can tell you that this is a visit focused entirely on issues of economic development and job creation,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
Still, Thursday marks Obama’s second trip to Texas in two weeks. In addition to speaking publicly about his jobs agenda, he was also there to raise money for Democrats.
Texas Republicans took issue with Obama’s plan for achieving his economic goals. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz argued that the economic growth and job creation that attracted the president to Texas is due to the conservative leadership that runs the state.
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“Texas is leading the nation in economic growth and job creation because of principled, conservative leaders who understand the keys to economic success are lower, flatter taxes, limited government and restrained spending,” Cruz said. “We hope the president will take some of these lessons back to Washington to bring true economic recovery to our nation.”
At the Manor New Technology High School, Obama toured classrooms and talked to students who had built robots and, in one case, a miniature solar-powered electric car. In the school gym afterward, Obama greeted a crowd of 400 by shouting, “Howdy, Manor!”
He alluded to new executive actions he is taking to boost job creation on his own without the help of Congress. White House advisors said the administration will work to set up partnerships among businesses, colleges and government to develop and build manufacturing technologies.
Obama is also issuing an executive order requiring that newly released government data be made widely available to entrepreneurs, researchers and others who can use it to generate new products and services.
But he said he would keep pressing Congress on his proposals, including one that would deny subsidies to colleges that aren’t “trying hard enough to keep costs down and provide a high-quality education.”
“I'm just going to keep on talking to members of Congress because I believe that America does best when we work together,” Obama said. “Every once in a while I'm going to need your help to lean on your elected representatives and say, ‘Hey, let's do something about this. Even if you don't like it politically, if it's a good idea, let's go ahead and support it.’ ”
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