President Obama spoke to the press at the rose garden today to announce his signing of the Budget Control Act (the debt-ceiling bill) and to offer a glimpse of what he plans to focus on next.
So, we’ve seen in the past few days that Washington has the ability to focus when there’s a timer ticking down, and when there’s a looming disaster. It shouldn’t take the risk of default -– the risk of economic catastrophe -– to get folks in this town to work together and do their jobs. Because there’s already a quiet crisis going on in the lives of a lot of families, in a lot of communities, all across the country. They’re looking for work, and they have been for a while; or they’re making do with fewer hours or fewer customers; or they’re just trying to make ends meet. That ought to compel Washington to cooperate. That ought to compel Washington to compromise, and it ought to compel Washington to act. That ought to be enough to get all of us in this town to do the jobs we were sent here to do. We’ve got to do everything in our power to grow this economy and put America back to work.
The president also briefly previewed what his agenda will be over the next several months.
"In the coming months, I will continue also to fight for what the American people care most about: new jobs, higher wages, and faster economic growth," Obama said. "While Washington has been absorbed in this debate about deficits, people across the country are asking: what can we do to help the father looking for work? What are we going to do for the single mom who has seen her hours cut back at the hospital? What are we going to do to make it easier for businesses to put up that now hiring sign?" [...]
"We have workers who need jobs and a country that needs rebuilding," he said. "An infrastructure bank would help us put them together."
A national infrastructure bank is an outstanding idea which could generate jobs and revenue, but will the Republicans go along with it?
Now that deficit hysteria is behind us, at least in the minds of average voters, it will become increasingly difficult, politically, for the Republicans to oppose any and all legislation that would stimulate the economy.
Congressional approval is already at 14%, a historic low, but it could sink even lower if the Republicans continue to whine about government spending after the President showed that he was willing to take a short-term political hit to prevent a catastrophe. The Republicans have clearly demonstrated to a majority of Americans that they are not so willing.