President Reiterates Priorities in the State of the Union

The State of the Union speech is designed to set up administration goals, identify legislative priorities, identify priorities for federal agencies and provide rhetorical guidance for congress. This year’s speech expounded on the president’s inaugural address, which talked about economic growth, equal pay, climate change, immigration, same sex marriage and preserving the social safety net. He also called for compromise, reasoned debate and accepting partial victories.  The State of the Union also reiterated policy goals, such as helping the middle class, equal pay, climate change, immigration and gun control. He was also address the impending sequester, eliminating tax “loopholes”, helping manufacturing, adding job training in high schools, and increasing the minimum wage. President Obama also resurrected items from past speeches and budgets, including the American Jobs Act, energy security, energy efficiency and a fix-it-first plan for infrastructure.  Even though these infrastructure items are reiterations of past speeches, there are few details regarding these proposals. There may be more information forthcoming in the president’s budget, which is expected to be released in March. In tone there was little new. While the president did talk about meeting national challenges in a way that identifies what is best for the country, he also threatened to act unilaterally on carbon emissions if Congress refused to pass legislation.  In short, other than the minimum wage increase, there was little difference in the president’s proposals or tone.  It set no path for compromise or long term collaboration. Unfortunately, this could forecast yet another difficult legislative session and may also be a sign that we have already begun the 2014 election cycle in earnest. For more information, please contact Jeff Shoaf at (202) 547-3350 or shoafj@agc.org.