US president Barack Obama was expected to lay out a strategy for getting around a divided Congress and boosting middle-class prosperity in a state of the union speech reflecting scaled-back legislative ambitions after a difficult year.
Mr Obama was set to make clear that he is willing to bypass US lawmakers and go it alone in some areas by announcing a series of executive actions that do not require congressional approval.
The White House said the president would announce an executive order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 (€7.40) an hour for federal contract workers with new contracts. It said he would also call on Congress to pass a Bill to increase the federal minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 an hour from $7.25 and index that to inflation.
The order raising the level for federal workers, which applies to new contracts or existing contracts in which terms are being changed, will take effect at the beginning of 2015, with janitors and construction workers among the beneficiaries. The order allows Mr Obama to bypass Congress, where Republicans oppose a broad increase in the minimum wage.
Opportunity
White House officials said the president would also announce new executive actions on retirement security and job training to help middle-class workers expand economic opportunity.
“What you’ll hear in the speech tonight is very concrete, realistic proposals as it relates to wages, as it relates to education, as it relates to training, high-tech manufacturing, retirement security, those are the things that he’s focused on,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said.
With three years left in office, Mr Obama has effectively reduced for now his ambitions for grand legislative actions.
He was expected to renew his appeal for an immigration overhaul that has been stymied by Republicans, and promote his signature healthcare law, four months after its disastrous initial rollout.
White House officials said the president would try to work with Congress to accomplish his agenda, but would also try to advance it through executive actions if necessary.
House of Representatives speaker John Boehner said that while the president may have the authority to raise the minimum wage on federal contracts, the impact would be “close to zero” because it would only affect future contracts. –(Reuters)