The agenda President Obama is laying out at the start of this new Congress is being rejected by Virginia Republicans who now have more power at the Capitol than Democrats.
While Republicans were just swept into power running against President Obama’s economic policies, the president told lawmakers in last week’s State of the Union address that the economy is soaring again because of his policies. He’s now hoping to expand on that progress through things like offering two years of free community college and tax credits for child care.
“Middle class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work as long as politics don’t get in the way. We can’t slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns. We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got to fix a broken system. And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things I will veto it. It will have earned my veto,” says President Obama.
Virginia Republican Congressman Rob Wittman says the President merely laid out a "populist agenda."
“I think folks in the middle class don’t believe their long-term best interest is served by some dollars being given back to them by the federal government. I think their best term long interest is seeing a career path where they can move up a job ladder and make more.”
Northern Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock is a part of the mostly Republican freshman class sworn in earlier this month. She says she was disappointed the president focused on new programs, like paid sick days for all workers, instead of job creation.
“But I think another mandate on small businesses is very difficult. What we want to do is provide great jobs so people can provide those kind of benefits. Many employers already do provide even longer than what the president is proposing because they know that’s the way to get a good, talented workforce.”
Northern Virginia Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly says he supports the new middle class agenda. He says if lawmakers can find a way to pay for the community college initiative it would go a long way towards making the U-S workforce more robust.
“I think it’s - I think it’s a great idea. You know, I represent the second- or third-largest community college in America, Northern Virginia Community College. And it’s an incredible vehicle for people to retool, to catch up, to pick up new schools or just to continue with their education or to actually reorient themselves in terms of career choices.”
Congressman Wittman says the president’s proposal is shortsighted though, because many of the jobs of the future will require expertise that you can only get at a trade school.
“So it’s great to talk about community college. It’s great to talk about test scores and graduation rates. But if our diplomas don’t get our students jobs then we’re failing them. So I wanted him to talk more about workforce development as it relates to those skill and trades areas, the career and technical education areas, which is really where the future of the economy is going.”
Virginia Republican Congressman Randy Forbes says the president is merely trying to redistribute wealth instead of fostering a vibrant private sector.
“He has never seen a dollar of your money that he doesn’t believe he can spend more appropriately than you can. I think most Americans will reject that.”
Northern Virginia Democratic Congressman Don Beyer says he’s glad the president is refocusing the debate in Washington.
“The Republicans are always going to be more likely to do something that increases income and wealth.”
Beyer says it’s especially good to hear the president focusing attention on climate change even though many Republicans in Congress deny it’s a problem.
“And it’s the long term impact of climate change that is so frightening -- the billions of people that could be displaced, the droughts, the wildfires, the impact on human health.”
The president only has two years left in office and Republicans control Congress. That means his agenda is unlikely to pass as he’s proposing it, but he’s now sparked a heated debate in the nation’s capital.
