Obama urges Congress to overcome its divisions
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President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., tonight. -
First lady Michelle Obama waves on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to the start of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. -
President Barack Obama is applauded on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to delivering his State of the Union address. -
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington.
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WASHINGTON -- While avidly defending his core legislative achievements and priorities, President Barack Obama acknowledged divided government in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, sprinkling in pledges for austerity and Republican-proposed reforms.
Though they sat in an unusual bipartisan arrangement -- a sign of solidarity in light of the near-assassination this month of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. -- the Congress remains split. A new Republican-majority House has vowed massive spending cuts and has already taken a vote to unravel Mr. Obama's signature domestic law, health care reform. The Senate, meanwhile, retains a slim Democratic majority determined to serve as a bulwark against the ascendant GOP.
Mr. Obama clearly sought to appease both, with Republican-friendly pledges to veto any bill that includes earmarks and a five-year freeze on domestic discretionary spending --on the same day that the House passed a bill pledging to roll that spending back to 2008 levels.
But he implored the Congress not to be stingy when it comes to infrastructure, clean energy and education. "I recognize that some in this chamber have already proposed deeper cuts, and I'm willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without," Mr. Obama said. "But let's make sure that we're not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. And let's make sure what we're cutting is really excess weight.
"Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you'll feel the impact."
Specifically, he called for 80 percent of the nation's electricity to come from non-fossilized sources by 2035, a permanent tuition tax credit of $10,000 for four years of college and construction of high-speed rail networks serving 80 percent of the nation within a quarter-century.
As he has before, Mr. Obama compared the challenges to the space race against the Soviet Union, calling the need to invest in global economic competitiveness a new "Sputnik moment."
The nation's debt crisis comes most acutely from runaway entitlement spending, and Mr. Obama said the health care overhaul law would begin to control Medicare and Medicaid, though cuts should go further. He earned big GOP cheers for voicing support for "medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits."
Mr. Obama also said he was willing to modify Social Security -- but offered no specifics, and said he would not risk "guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market."
In foreign policy, Mr. Obama gave an upbeat assessment of the nation's still-simmering engagement in Afghanistan and waning presence in Iraq. He said the United States "stands with the people of Tunisia," where street uprisings have toppled a dictatorship in unrest that could spread throughout North Africa.
Among the individual stories Mr. Obama singled out in his speech was that of Pennsylvanian Brandon Fisher, owner of Center Rock Inc. in Berlin, Somerset County. Mr. Fisher worked to design the drill bits that helped complete a shaft to free 33 trapped Chilean miners last year. Mr. Obama told the story of the company's efforts, which involved Mr. Fisher's traveling to Chile but not sticking around for the accolades when the miners emerged.
"Later, one of his employees said of the rescue, 'We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things,' " Mr. Obama said, as Mr. Fisher and his wife, Julie, the company's sales manager, looked on from first lady Michelle Obama's box. He then repeated for emphasis: "We do big things."
Another scheduled attendee with Western Pennsylvania ties was U.S. Army Sergeant Reid Grapes, son of David and Linda Grapes of Crafton, who is now stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
In a show of bipartisanship meant to underscore a more civil tone in the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., shootings -- which left six dead and 13 injured -- the typically party-segregated members of Congress mixed together. As Democrats and Republicans announced their pairings in the days leading up to the speech, the event became something akin to a high school prom, with flag pins instead of corsages.
And like a prom, there were awkward moments.
Pennsylvania's senators, Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Pat Toomey, pledged to sit together, but, arriving near the back of the parade of senators, they couldn't find two seats together. Mr. Toomey ended up with a prime spot in the second row on the middle aisle, while Mr. Casey found a seat toward the corner.
Mr. Obama's speech offered only a handful of lines that were clearly favored by one party over the other, but the standing and sitting were more uneven with the intermingled parties.
Mr. Casey said the arrangement -- even if it didn't work out with his seat buddy -- fostered an air of civility during the speech. "It led to a situation where you had fewer and fewer one-party standing ovations one after another," he said.
Mr. Casey nonetheless said he disagreed with the president's earmark ban and, for now, his spending freeze. But he added, "You didn't hear any of the outbursts you heard before, in previous years."
A promise from Mr. Obama to work with both parties on immigration overhaul earned muddled praise, while an attack on oil companies' tax breaks produced some of the night's most obvious unrest from Republicans.
Democrats alone rose to their feet when Mr. Obama issued a pointed rebuke to the health care overhaul repeal crowd: "So instead of refighting the battles of the last two years, let's fix what needs fixing and move forward."
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, didn't have a date planned but ran into Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and the two coaches of their parties' congressional baseball teams decided to sit together.
Mr. Doyle said he was pleased with Mr. Obama's speech and thought it offered a good contrast between the "cut and grow" pledges of Republicans versus the Democrats' "invest and grow" agenda.
"I think he recognizes this new reality that we're dealing with, and we're going to have to meet Republicans halfway on some things, but then he also said he's not going to abandon his core beliefs and the core beliefs of the Democratic Party," Mr. Doyle said.
But Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, said the investment promise just sounded like more runaway spending. "He came out with a number of things that involved spending and infrastructure, but he didn't say how much, and certainly didn't say where the money's coming from," he said.
Mr. Toomey also voiced concern about additional spending, calling the speech a "mixed bag." But he was heartened by Mr. Obama's spending-freeze pledge and his statement that he wants to work to lower the corporate income tax rate, while closing loopholes to make the change deficit-neutral.
"The general concept that he articulated -- one of broadening the base and lowering the rate -- is the right direction to move," Mr. Toomey said. "I'm more than willing to work with the president on that approach."
Unlike previous speeches to Congress during the first two years of his term, Mr. Obama didn't offer a prescriptive legislative agenda as much as a guide to areas where he could work with Congress.
Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, said that was the perfect approach. "It's up to us as a Congress to do the decision-making and put a bill together that he can sign," he said. "I feel that we have been given a mission as a Congress. He said he's willing to reach across the aisle and work with those guys, and that's what we're going to have to do."
First Published January 26, 2011 12:00 am
