President Obama traveled to Northern Virginia Monday to pressure Congress to approve $8 billion for community colleges on a day the White House rolled out its 2013 budget proposal that would do little to stanch government spending.
“The main idea in the budget is this: At a time when our economy is growing and adding jobs at a faster clip, we’ve got to do everything we can to keep it growing,” Obama said at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale. “It says if we’re serious about investing in our future … we’ve got to pay for it.”
Obama’s $3.8 trillion election-year budget calls for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and more spending on infrastructure, education and manufacturing.
It would reduce $4 trillion in government borrowing over the next decade but usher in another $1 trillion deficit for 2013, falling well short of the president’s pledge to cut the deficit in half. Roughly $800 billion in savings over the next 10 years comes from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, money Obama would redirect to his top domestic priorities.
Northern Virginia Community College, a campus near the White House that Obama has used on frequent occasions to underscore his commitment to higher education, set a scene that will play out repeatedly in the build up to November’s election.
Obama’s proposal is predicated on the assuption that government spending would jumpstart economic growth, and he will argue that Republicans remain so hyper-focused on the deficit that they may imperil fragile economic gains.
“We can’t just cut our way into growth,” he told the crowd. “We’ve got a long way to go before everyone who wants a good job can find one — before middle class Americans regain that sense of security that’s been slipping away for too long.”
Touting his community college plan, Obama said the blueprint could train 2 million workers in the health care, transportation and manufacturing industries.
Obama also repeated his calls to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
“We can settle for a country where a few people do really well and everybody else struggles,” he said, “or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot.”
Obama has called for a minimum 30 percent tax rate for those making more than $1 million annually and has pushed for the expiration of the so-called Bush tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year.
