During his 6, 498 word State of the Union speech Tuesday evening, President Obama touched on a number of topics near and dear to the hearts of the middle class, including: education, home mortgages, applauding the end of the Iraq war, getting America back to work, while at the same time, challenging Congress to change the way it does business these days. ``We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction; that politics is about clinging to rigid ideologies instead of building consensus around common sense ideas’’ Mr. Obama said.
After reaching out across the aisle, Mr. Obama proceeded to lay out his blueprint for an ``America built to last.’’
For those who missed the speech, here is a brief outline of the major talking points highlighted on Tuesday evening.
• Remove tax incentives to locate overseas through an international minimum tax. President Obama proposes eliminating tax incentives to ship jobs offshore by ensuring that all American companies pay a minimum tax on their overseas profits, preventing other countries from attracting American business through unusually low tax rates.
• Stop letting companies take a tax deduction for moving overseas and instead provide a credit for moving jobs back home
• End subsidies for millionaires-stop giving federal subsidies. Mr Obama proposes stop providing food stamps, unemployment benefits, and farm subsidies – to millionaires, because they don’t need it and the country can’t afford it.
• Prevent tax increases for working families by extending the payroll tax cut. The President proposes extending the payroll tax cut – which provides $40 per paycheck for the typical family – for the rest of the year so that taxes don’t go up on American workers.
• Proposed giving every responsible homeowner the opportunity to refinance: Mr. Obama recommends using some of the Administration’s proposed bank fees to cover the cost of the refinancing plan, since financial institutions helped cause the housing crisis from which borrowers and the economy are still trying to recover.
• Make sure Wall Street plays by the same rules; President Obama wants to establish a Financial Crimes Unit of investigators to work with U.S. Attorneys to go after large-scale financial fraud so that Americans’ investments are protected. He also called on Congress to pass legislation that makes the penalties for fraud count – so that firms don’t just see punishment for breaking the law as the price of doing business.
• Reduce the influence of money and lobbyists and do away with procedures that stop Congress from working on behalf of the American people. The president proposes new safeguards to prevent Members of Congress from profiting from their positions
Ban insider trading by Members of Congress
Holding Congress to same conflict-of-interest standards as the Executive branch:
Prohibit lobbyists from bundling, and bundlers from lobbying
Give nominations an up-or-down vote: As one step to fix the way business is done in Washington,
• The President challenged the Senate to pass a rule that after 90 days, all judicial and public service nominations must receive a simple up or down vote.
• Eliminate roadblocks in the Senate by reforming the filibuster: Senators who want to filibuster should vocalize their objection on the Senate floor
• Pass a balanced, fair deficit reduction plan.
• The President wants Congress to reduce the deficit in a balanced way that asks everyone to do their part, so no one has to bear the entire burden and everyone – including millionaires and billionaires – has to pay their fair share.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 24, 2012
I have to agree with the President on his plan to prevent tax increases for working families by extending the payroll tax cut. In my family, four of us work for a living. I believe that most of our income go to our tax cuts alone. If only this amount of money is used to buy for other necessities like food and medicine, it could be more helpful to our family.
Posted by: form 2290 | 04/24/2012 at 05:58 PM