Weekly
Address: Expanding Opportunity – It’s Time for Congressional Republicans to Do
Their Part
July 12, 2014
Hi, everybody. This week, I spent some time in Colorado and
Texas, talking with people about what’s going on in their lives.
One of them was Elizabeth Cooper,
who’ll be a college junior this fall.
She wrote to tell me something I hear often: how hard it is for middle-class
families like hers to afford college.
And she shared something I know many of you feel when you wonder what’s
going on in Washington. She said she
feels “not significant enough to be addressed, not poor enough for people to
worry [about], and not rich enough to be cared about.”
I ran for President to fight for
Americans just like Elizabeth – people who work hard, do everything right, and
just want a chance to build a decent life for themselves and their families.
And after the worst economic crisis
in generations, our businesses have now created nearly 10 million new jobs over
the past 52 months. The unemployment
rate has fallen to its lowest point since 2008.
By almost every measure, our economy is better off than it was five
years ago.
But while we’ve created more jobs
at this point of the year than any year since 1999, too many families barely
earn what they did in 1999. It’s harder
to pay for college, save, or retire, because people’s wages and incomes have
not gone up. Nearly all the gains of the
recovery are going to the very top – and aren’t making a difference in your
lives.
And I believe America does better
when the middle class does better. And I’ve
laid out an opportunity agenda to create jobs, train workers, educate our kids,
and make sure hard work actually pays off.
These are the things we should be
doing to grow the middle class and help folks work their way into the middle
class. And it’s pretty uncontroversial
stuff. I hope we can work together on it.
And I’m always willing to compromise if folks have other ideas or if it
advances generally the interests of working Americans.
But so far this year, Republicans
in Congress have blocked every serious idea to strengthen the middle
class. Lifting the minimum wage, fair
pay, student loan reform – they’ve said no to all of it. And that’s when I’ve acted this year to help
working Americans on my own– when Congress won’t act.
I’ve taken actions to attract new
jobs, lift workers’ wages, help students pay off their loans, and more. And the Republican plan right now is not to
do some of this work with me – instead, it’s to sue me. That’s actually what they’re spending their
time on. It’s a political stunt that’s
going to waste months of America’s time.
And by the way, they’re going to pay for it using your hard-earned tax
dollars.
I have a better idea: do
something, Congress. Do anything to help
working Americans. Join the rest of the
country. Join me, I’m looking forward to working with you.
You know, on Tuesday, I met with
Carolyn Reed and her husband David, who own six Silver Mine Sub shops in
Colorado. Two days later, they announced
they’re giving their hourly employees a raise to ten dollars and ten cents an
hour.
They’re not waiting for
Congress. Carolyn said, “We are happy to
be a part of what I hope will be a growing voluntary trend in increased wages.”
Carolyn and Americans like her
all across the country are happy to do their part. Congress now needs to step up and do its
part. And next week, I’ll travel to a
couple of job sites to talk about how Democrats and Republicans can work
together to grow the economy and protect nearly 700,000 jobs by passing a
highway bill by the end of the summer.
I’m here because hardworking Americans like Elizabeth and Carolyn. That’s something I’ll never forget – it’s something I’ll never stop fighting for. Thanks, and have a great weekend. |
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