Obama lays out plans in address

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In his last State of the Union address before November’s election, President Barack Obama called for closing what he said is a growing gap between the wealthy and poor in America, including suppressing the cost of higher education and rebooting the country’s manufacturing sector.

Vowing to “fight obstruction with action,” he called for unity from both sides of the aisle during his speech last night from Washington, D.C., saying American values are at stake in the growing class gap.

As one of his main points, the president vowed to find ways to cut down on the cost of higher education, calling for Congress to extend the tuition tax credit set to expire this year.

“Congress needs to stop the interest rates and student loans from doubling in July,” Obama said.
He asked lawmakers to expand the number of work-study programs available and also called upon states and universities to keep costs down for students.

“If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down,” he said. “(College) is an economic imperative that every American should be able to afford.”

The president delivered the speech three days before he plans to travel to Ann Arbor to give a speech at the University of Michigan, where he is expected to discuss college affordability and policy plans to pair skilled workers with jobs, AnnArbor.com reported.

On Thursday and Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to discuss strengthening higher education, making college affordable and ways to help students find jobs after graduation in a town hall meeting in Florida with college students.

Saying he would oppose policies that would bring another economic recession, Obama pushed for a “blueprint for an economy.”

The blueprint focused on strengthening skilled labor and manufacturing, citing a comeback in Detroit’s auto industry after being bailed out by the government in 2009.

Obama last visited Michigan in October 2011, where he took a tour of a General Motors assembly plant in Lake Orion, Mich. There, he credited the auto industry’s resurgence to the bailout.

The president also thanked Richard Cordray, an MSU alumnus and director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and assured citizens new government regulations would protect them and prevent another economic collapse.

“Today, American consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray with one job — to look out for them,” Obama said.

Last night’s address and Obama’s speech on Friday both come as the Republican showdown for the White House is flaring up. Last Saturday, Newt Gingrich upset Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, posing himself as the first legitimate threat against Romney for the nomination.

“Clearly the president is in full-time campaign mode,” said Nick Kowalski, founder of the MSU Campus Conservatives and a Romney supporter. “It’s all hands on deck.”

The race, fueled by new Super-PAC-funded ad campaigns, is growing increasingly heated as the Florida primary approaches at the end of the month, before the Michigan primary on Feb. 28 and Super Tuesday on March 6.

Although Michigan decisively sided with Obama in the 2008 election, the president might have to defend the state’s 16 electoral votes from Romney, who was born and raised here and whose father was a famous governor during the 1960s.

“I really liked his message that the government has been instrumental in incubating research and innovation that has been essential in the success of entrepreneurs,” said Joe Duffy, president of the MSU College Democrats.

Since the last State of the Union address, the president and Congress have battled over a number of controversial spending bills. In August 2011, an emergency bill passed to the raise the nation’s debt ceiling in an effort to avoid the country defaulting on its debt.

“Unfortunately for Michigan families, President Obama has promised a lot over the past three years but has failed to deliver,” U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, said in a statement. “The president should reverse course and work with Congress on real solutions to our country’s most pressing issues.”

Also, a high-profile bipartisan deficit reduction “super committee” — which included two representatives from Michigan — failed to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion in spending by the legal deadline, triggering a series of federal cuts that included college grants to the economically neediest students.

The cuts are scheduled to go into effect as of January 2013.

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