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Obama’s State of the Union; Heavy on Jobs, Economy

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President Obama outlined plans on Tuesday, February 12, to revive American prosperity by rebuilding “a thriving middle class,” calling it the “true engine of America’s economic growth” during his annual State of the Union Address.

Growing the economy and creating good middle-class jobs “must be the North Star that guides our efforts,” Obama told a joint session of Congress and a national television audience.

While devoting most of his speech to jobs and the economy, Obama also announced plans to pull 34,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan over the next year, reducing the American presence by about half as part of a planned overall withdrawal. “By the end of next year,” Obama said, “our war in Afghanistan will be over.”

The president also condemned the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, and pledged to work with Russia to continue reducing American and Russian nuclear stockpiles.

In a litany of economic proposals, Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage — from $7.25 to $9 per hour — as well as new plans to speed up infrastructure projects, promote manufacturing, improve science and math education and develop alternative sources of energy.

Throughout his speech, Obama tied the economy to other aspects of his legislative agenda, including proposals for a major overhaul of the immigration system, legislation to combat gun violence, and programs to address climate change.

Obama urged members of Congress — especially Republicans –— to avoid the “sequester,” $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to take effect March 1. The president said these “sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts” would jeopardize military readiness and “devastate priorities” like education, energy, and medical research.

Instead, he urged a “balanced” plan to reduce the nation’s $16 trillion-plus debt with both spending cuts and new tax revenues derived from closing loopholes and ending certain deductions.

The State of the Union also featured a new plan to protect the nation’s infrastructure from cyber attacks and the creation of an election reform commission to deal with challenges such as long lines at polling places and voter registration problems.

Congressional Republicans said Obama’s plans rely too much on government and not enough on the market to rebuild the middle class. In the formal Republican response to the State of the Union, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. — a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016 — planned to say that past presidents from both parties “have known that our free enterprise economy is the source of our middle class prosperity.

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