Fox News
1/28/2014
House Speaker John Boehner issued a stern warning to President Obama ahead of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address: “We have a Constitution. We abide by it. If he tries to ignore it, he’s going to run into a brick wall.”
The House speaker was addressing concerns that Obama is preparing to bypass Congress this year with more executive actions. Advisers for days have signaled that Obama will promote that approach in his State of the Union address — and will use his “pen” and his “phone” in 2014 to achieve the results he wants.
The president took a first step in that direction on Tuesday, announcing an executive order raising the minimum wage for new federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25. Obama will use the move to apply additional pressure on Congress to approve a similar increase for all workers.
Boehner, speaking later to reporters, said Obama likely has the authority to raise the wage for federal contractors. He downplayed the impact the move would have. “Let’s understand something: this affects not one current contract, it only affects future contracts with the federal government. And so I think the question is, how many people, Mr. President will this executive action actually help? I suspect the answer is somewhere close to zero,” he said.
But Boehner reminded the president not to overstep his bounds as he weighs other executive actions…
The article continues at FoxNews.com
…the issue dovetails with what will be Obama’s broader call for Congress to increase the national minimum wage to $10.10 and tie future increases to inflation. Obama called last year for an increase in the minimum wage to $9.
This year he is lending his support to legislation sponsored by Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Representative George Miller from California.
Their bill also would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers for the first time in more than two decades.
Increasing the wage for federal contractors does not require congressional action.
Republican Congressman Steve King, a six-term conservative and tea party favorite, said that Obama’s proposal is unconstitutional.
‘We have a minimum wage. Congress has set it. For the president to simply declare I’m going to change this law that has passed is unconstitutional,’ King said Tuesday on CNN.
The Tuesday night address will be wrapped in a unifying theme: The federal government can play a key role in increasing opportunities for Americans who have been left behind, unable to benefit from a recovering economy.
Yet, at the core of the address, the president will deliver a split message.
Even as he argues that low income Americans and many in the middle class lack the means to achieve upward mobility, Obama will also feel compelled to take credit for an economy that by many indicators is gaining strength under his watch.
As a result, he will talk positively about a recovery that remains elusive to many Americans.
Some Democrats are warning Obama to tread carefully…
Update: ‘Says it all’: Brad Thor shares Left’s solution to income inequality; Suggests SOTU rebuttal (photo)
A “larger share” of something is very subjective, as author Brad Thor pointed out…
Also, NBC News Poll: State of the Union – Pessimistic
As President Barack Obama enters his sixth year in the White House, 68 percent of Americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off since he took office, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Just 31 percent say the country is better off, and a deep pessimism continues to fuel the public’s mood. Most respondents used words like “divided,” “troubled,” and “deteriorating” to describe the current state of the nation…
From Professor Carol M. Swain, “We are not helpless,” on YouTube
