Wednesday January 25, 2012

In his State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama presented a number of proposals for strengthening the economy. OWL supports the President’s efforts in the following key areas:

Job Creation & Job Training – create more high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs, reform our tax laws to discourage sending jobs overseas and encourage creating jobs at home, and spur job-training partnerships between businesses and community colleges; and,

Equal Pay for Equal Work – abolish pay inequality, which costs women lost wages, reduced pensions, and reduced Social Security benefits.

On the subject of retirement security, President Obama stated that he was “prepared to make more reforms” on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as a compromise to Republicans for closing tax loopholes and ending tax cuts for the wealthy. OWL remains concerned about the President’s willingness to make cuts to the lifeline programs that provide critical safety nets for millions of Americans. We urge the President not to sacrifice the security of current or future retirees and to take these programs off the bargaining table.