President Obama is traveling across the country to highlight his Administration’s work in a variety of topics, from the auto industry to housing to college affordability.  

In Detroit, the President gave a speech about the resurgence of the American auto industry – a success that would not have been possible without the auto rescue. He also noted the milestone that was reached last December – the official end of the auto industry rescue.  

In his remarks, President Obama called the auto industry the “heartbeat of American manufacturing” and praised the American people for never giving up when times were tough.

He said “When our assembly lines grind to a halt, we work together, we get them going again. We don’t give up. We get up, we fight back. We come back stronger than before.” 

In Phoenix, President Obama focused on the housing market and announced a new action to help more American families have the opportunity to buy their own homes. Today, home sales are up nearly 50 percent from what they were in the worst of the economic crisis and homebuilding has more than doubled since then. His policy includes reducing home mortgage insurance premiums to ensure that every hardworking American who wants to own their own home has an opportunity to do so.  

The President said “In the end, everything we’ve done to heal the housing market is about more than just restoring housing values. It’s about restoring our common values. It’s about who we are as a country and who we are as communities.”  

President Obama’s final stop was in Knoxville where he proposed a plan to provide free community college for those who were willing to work for it and are making “steady progress” toward their degree. If approved by Congress, the proposal could benefit 9 million students each year and save a full-time community college student an average of $3,800 in tuition fees per year.  

The President said “I hope we’ve got the chance to make sure that Congress gets behind these kinds of efforts to make sure that even as we rebound and grow in 2015, that it benefits everybody and not just some.”  

The policy measures the President announced show his commitment to the American people and his fight for putting the middle class first.

Today’s GOP “solution” – higher deficits, more uninsured, fewer work hours 

Even though we have a new Congress, we are still stuck with the same old Republican Party.

What drives this new class of Republican leaders? Creating jobs? Helping the middle class? Strengthening our infrastructure?

Nope.

Once again, their first week back in session this Republican Congress has made its priorities clear. Congressional Republicans are setting out to dismantle something that Republicans have called “beyond repair,” the “single worst piece of legislation in the last 50 years,“ and the worst thing to happened to the nation “since slavery.” 

Something that is SO bad we’re seeing:

• The uninsured rate nearing an historic low.
• Health care costs rising at historically low rates.
• Up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions no longer having to worry about being denied health coverage.
• The uninsured rate for 19-25 years olds falling from 30 to 21 percent since 2010.
• Medicare remaining solvent for even longer.

You guessed it. Republicans in Congress are at it again, trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act. They have made their priorities clear. And what does their suggested measure do instead?

Congressional Budget Office reports that their “solution” has huge negative results for middle class families, the budget, and the economy.

• It would increase the deficit by $53.2 billion over the next decade.
• It would increase government spending.
• Could lead employers to cut hours for employees.
• On top of all that, the Republican solution would leave more Americans uninsured.

They are so fixated on making a point that they’ll even attempt to do so at the expense of the American people, and frankly at the expense of their stated platform of cutting the deficit.

The Affordable Care Act is working and it’s here to stay, but we just hope for the sake of the country, that sooner rather than later Congressional Republicans will get the point and get back to working on real solutions to move the country forward.

automotive industry · Barack Obama · housing market · President Obama

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