Obama speech will draw line, aides foresee

He’s set to bypass Congress to get things done, they say

FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Obama reports to Congress and the nation Jan. 28, 2014, on the State of the Union, an annual rite in official Washington that for one night squeezes the three branches of government underneath the same roof for the speech. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)
FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Obama reports to Congress and the nation Jan. 28, 2014, on the State of the Union, an annual rite in official Washington that for one night squeezes the three branches of government underneath the same roof for the speech. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will work with Congress where he can and circumvent lawmakers where he must, his top advisers warned Sunday in previewing Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

Obama faces a politically divided Congress on Tuesday and will use his annual address to demand expanded economic opportunity. Absent legislative action, the White House is telling lawmakers that the president is ready to take unilateral action to close the gap between rich and poor Americans.

“I think the way we have to think about this year is we have a divided government,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime Obama adviser. “The Republican Congress is not going to rubber-stamp the president’s agenda. The president is not going to sign the Republican Congress’ agenda.”

The White House is considering compromise on some priorities, Obama advisers said. But the president is also looking at executive orders that can be enacted without Congress’ approval.

“The president sees this as a year of action to work with Congress where he can and to bypass Congress where necessary,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Republicans bristled at the act-or-else posture.

“The president has sort of hung out on the left and tried to get what he wants through the bureaucracy as opposed to moving to the political center,” said Sen. Mitch Mc-Connell of Kentucky, the GOP Senate leader.

McConnell said Obama is wrong to think he can bypass Congress and make legislative progress this year.

“Ronald Reagan didn’t think that and Bill Clinton didn’t think that,” McConnell said. “Frequently, times of divided government are quite good times in terms of achieving things for the American people.”

Added Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.: “It sounds vaguely like a threat, and I think it also has a certain amount of arrogance in the sense that one of the fundamental principles of our country are the checks and balances, that it wasn’t supposed to be easy to pass legislation and you had to debate and convince people.”

With campaigns for November’s election on the horizon, there’s scant reason for the White House to be optimistic about Republican support for measures to revive a bipartisan immigration bill that has passed the Senate, an increased minimum wage or expanding pre-kindergarten programs.

Republicans looking to wrest control of the Senate and keep their majority in the House instead want to keep the focus on the struggling economy and Obama’s stewardship of it. The GOP is pinning hopes that voter frustration remains high and punishes Democrats on the ballot for Obama’s tenure.

“His economic policies are not working,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

The partisan rhetoric was tempered by predictions from both sides that it may be possible to reach some bipartisan deals this year.

Paul said there may be cross-party support for tax changes to encourage U.S. companies to bring profits home from overseas. He said he asked Obama to consider taxing overseas profits at5 percent, with the revenue going to infrastructure.

Carney said the White House is “actually optimistic” about getting an immigration package to the president this year.

One of the biggest tests for cooperation between Obama and Republicans may come next month, when the federal government is again forecast to run out of money to pay its bills unless the federal debt ceiling is raised.

Cruz, a Tea Party champion who helped trigger a government shutdown last year to protest Obama’s healthcare law, signaled his willingness to begin a new fight over the debt ceiling. Obama has said the limit must be raised without any trade-offs.

“We shouldn’t just write a blank check,” Cruz said. “In the past, the debt ceiling has been the most effective leverage point for real structural reform.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., dismissed Cruz’s implied threat to hold up passage of a debt increase.

“I do not believe that Republican leaders will follow Ted Cruz over the cliff once again,” Schumer said. “I think they learned their lesson with the government shutdown.”

McConnell joined Cruz in suggesting that an increase in the debt limit won’t be passed without other provisions.

“For the president to ask for a clean debt ceiling, when we have a debt the size of the economy, is irresponsible,” McConnell said. “So we ought to discuss adding something to his request to raise the debt ceiling that does something about the debt - or it produces at least something positive for our country.”

McConnell cautioned that his party’s willingness to compromise would extend only so far.

“We’re anxious to help him create jobs, but we’re not going to go over and endorse more spending, more debt, more taxes and more regulation,” he said.

The White House has been signaling to Republicans that it would not wait for Congress to act. It also is betting Obama’s backers will rally behind his plans.

Pfeiffer said on Fox: “Our position on this is the same as it was in October, and the same that it’s been for more than a year, which is the American people should not have to pay the Republican Congress ransom for doing their most basic function, which is paying the bills.”

“When American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, he will not wait for Congress,” Pfeiffer wrote in an email to Obama supporters Saturday.

After the speech, Obama will travel to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee to promote the proposals he introduces Tuesday evening.

Pfeiffer appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and Fox News Sunday. Carney spoke with ABC’s This Week. McConnell was interviewed on Fox. Paul spoke with CNN and NBC’s Meet the Press. Cruz and Schumer spoke to CBS’ Face the Nation.

Information for this article was contributed by David Lerman and Gopal Ratnam of Bloomberg News and by Emmarie Huetteman of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/27/2014

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