Friday
Jan302009
Obama creates task force to help the middle class
Friday, January 30, 2009 at 12:06PM
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service
On Friday morning in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama created a Task Force with the singular objective of raising the standard of living of the middle class. Obama said that his economic stimulus package was “just the beginning”, and said that this task force would be what middle class citizens so desperately need, calling the middle class the “backbone” of the economy. Vice President Joe Biden was charged with heading this endeavor, which Biden said would be “fully transparent”. The task force includes economic advisors and well as cabinet members, and according to Biden is going to seek the opinions and ideas of citizens. Meeting transcripts, documents, and other relevant material will be kept on a special website, aStrongMiddleClass.gov, which Biden said would be a place for both information and conversation, in which citizens can participate and tell their stories. The President also said that this Task Force will not forget the poor, but will give them opportunities to get a piece of the American dream if they are willing to work for it. Obama also emphasized that Labor Unions and Business can coexist, saying that the situation was not a zero sum game.
Vice President Biden will engage in monthly meetings with community leaders and interest groups to address regional economic issues across the nation, including but not limited to childcare, education, balance in the workplace, the creation of jobs, and safety and fairness in the workplace. The first meeting of the task force will be on February 27th in Philadelphia, to discuss green jobs.
The President also signed three executive orders after his remarks, which were related to these issues.
On Friday morning in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama created a Task Force with the singular objective of raising the standard of living of the middle class. Obama said that his economic stimulus package was “just the beginning”, and said that this task force would be what middle class citizens so desperately need, calling the middle class the “backbone” of the economy. Vice President Joe Biden was charged with heading this endeavor, which Biden said would be “fully transparent”. The task force includes economic advisors and well as cabinet members, and according to Biden is going to seek the opinions and ideas of citizens. Meeting transcripts, documents, and other relevant material will be kept on a special website, aStrongMiddleClass.gov, which Biden said would be a place for both information and conversation, in which citizens can participate and tell their stories. The President also said that this Task Force will not forget the poor, but will give them opportunities to get a piece of the American dream if they are willing to work for it. Obama also emphasized that Labor Unions and Business can coexist, saying that the situation was not a zero sum game.
Vice President Biden will engage in monthly meetings with community leaders and interest groups to address regional economic issues across the nation, including but not limited to childcare, education, balance in the workplace, the creation of jobs, and safety and fairness in the workplace. The first meeting of the task force will be on February 27th in Philadelphia, to discuss green jobs.
The President also signed three executive orders after his remarks, which were related to these issues.
Congressional budget still part of “same family”
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag said today that the budget proposals under consideration in the House and Senate Budget Committees "are from the same family as the President’s budget." "The resolutions may not be identical twins to what the President submitted, but they are certainly brothers that look an awful lot alike,” said Orszag, speaking to reporters on a conference call.
In response to Republican criticism of the proposal, Orszag responded that it is “easy to lob criticisms, but part of governing, or part of the policy process, needs to involve putting forward alternatives.” He said that he hasn’t seen an alternative budget proposal on the Senate side and his understanding is that there won’t be one. “It seems off to be criticizing, without putting forward an alternative,” stated Orszag.
The tax gap in the budget proposal amounts to a figure around 300 billion a year, and Orszag says that there are some proposals in the budget to start to reduce this number. However, Orszag stated that “there is widespread concern, frankly, that perhaps even the 300 billion dollar estimate is too low because of the complexity of some of the transactions that are involved.”
Orszag said that he takes issue with the objecture that there is “spiraling debt.” He stated that “we are inheriting a budget situation that is a mess and that we are working our way out of, and under both budget resolutions, the deficit is reduced in reduced in half—by more than half—by 2013.”
Orszag went on to explain that the only constraints on the task force are that there can be no tax increases during 2009 or 2010 and that the proposal should not raise taxes on American families making less than $250,000.
Orszag said that in regards to the committee using reconciliation this year,“reconciliation is not where we would like to start but we are not willing to take it off the table. There clearly are some differences between the Senate and the House on this topic and that will be worked out, assuming that both resolutions are adopted by the respective bodies; that would be something that would be worked out in conference.”