With the White House’s recent focus on Syria and the nation’s immediate focus on a horrific mass murder in the nation’s capital, President Barack Obama followed through Monday afternoon with a previously scheduled speech to tout his administration’s economic policies and criticize those of congressional Republicans on the five-year anniversary of the financial crisis.
Defending his record on deficit reduction and job growth a half-decade removed from the collapse of Lehman Bros., Obama warned Republicans against brawling over looming fiscal issues, including the continuation of government funding and a hike in the nation’s debt ceiling.
“Let’s stop the threats. Let’s stop the political posturing. Let’s keep our government open. Let’s pay our bills on time. Let’s pass a budget,” Obama said. “Let’s work together to do what the American people sent us here to do: Create jobs, grow our economy, [and] expand opportunity.”
The address comes as factions of House and Senate conservatives have discussed ways to tie the defunding or defanging of Obamacare to must-pass legislation. The prevailing idea has been to strip Obamacare of all of its funding in a “continuing resolution” needed to extend government spending beyond Sept. 30, when current law governing federal coffers expires; Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) put a version of that idea to paper in introducing a plan last week to delay Obamacare for one year while furthering government spending. Another proposal floated last week would undo the across-the-board cuts from sequestration in exchange for a raise in the debt ceiling and a one-year delay of Obamacare.
The President is disinterested in either approach, saying that they would serve only to create a crisis.
“The single-most important thing we can do to prevent that is for Congress to pass a budget without drama that puts us on a sound path for growth, jobs, better wages, [and] better incomes,” Obama said.
There is much work to be done on that front. The labor force participation rate — the percentage of persons aged 16 and older who are working or are actively searching for work — is at its lowest level in 35 years. Accompanying that bleak figure is an unemployment rate that continues to linger above 7 percent. It was at 7.3 percent in August.
Apart from politics, Obama took time at the beginning of his remarks to pay tribute to the victims and call for a “seamless” investigation of the Monday shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that reportedly has left at least 13 people dead.
“We send our thoughts and prayers to all at the Navy Yard who’ve been touched by this tragedy,” Obama said. “We thank them for their service. We stand with the families of those who’ve been harmed. They’re going to need our love and support.”
