In his State of the Union address President Obama said he’s prepared to bypass Congress when necessary, which made Virginia Republicans bristle.
The president laid out an ambitious agenda. He wants to expand educational opportunities, spur investments in infrastructure, and take more steps to address climate change. If House Republicans oppose his agenda the president says he’s prepared to go around them as much as possible through using executive orders. Northern Virginia Democrat Jim Moran applauds that tone.
“As far as I am concerned everything that he has the authority to do, he ought to do it, because clearly this congress is not going to cooperate. It is a partisan atmosphere.”
To show he’s willing to bypass Republicans and use executive orders to accomplish his agenda the president announced he’s raising wages for future federal contract employees to ten dollars and ten cents an hour. Republicans say the president missed an opportunity to reach across the aisle. Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith says there’ only so much the president can do from the Oval Office.
“A pen, and a phone is not what the founding fathers intended. They intended us to work together.”
In this election year, the State of the Union address is one of the first shots in an intense battle for those all important independent voters.