Good evening – We wanted to send you some topline messaging and research around what we expect to hear from President Obama tomorrow night, in case you have media lined up in advance of the State of the Union address. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to help. Many thanks, Ali Pardo Hispanic Media Press Secretary Republican National Committee (o) 202-863-5372 (c) 305-219-2942 @alipardo TALKING POINTS: Expectations Are Low For The State Of The Union On Tuesday, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address. So far, there’s little sign that he will offer big new ideas or give signs that he’s changing course after his party was soundly defeated by voters in the 2014 midterms. The RNC is out with a memo outlining the three things we expect to see: (1) He will praise bipartisanship in theory, while rejecting it in practice. (2) He will tell struggling Americans that the economy is great. (3) He will play small ball. You can expect heady rhetoric about bipartisanship while addressing a Republican House and Senate for the first time in his Presidency, but the president will launch a tax hike plan he knows is a non-starter in Congress even though tax reform was seen as a possible bipartisan topic just weeks ago. Obama has also been promising for weeks to veto bills that have bipartisan support: Keystone and restoring the 40-hour work week to ObamCare, for example. In short, Obama’s plan is simply more political go-it-alone than anything. You can expect he will say the economy is great, despite the fact that millions of Americans are still struggling and the labor participation rate is at its lowest since the Carter Presidency. You can expect him to play up small ideas, including his go-it-alone executive actions while ignoring big ideas like eliminating the deficit and expanding school choice that remain priorities to Republicans in office. In short, it’s going to be a dose of more of the same, showing Democrats haven’t learned their lesson that voters spelled out for them this past November. They continue to push the same old Obama-Clinton agenda. Obama’s Proposed Tax Hike Plan Background: This proposal would raise an estimated $320 billion over the next decade by increasing the capital gains and dividends rate to 28% and closing the so-called trust fund loophole. The revenue would go toward new programs and initiatives aimed at the middle class, including $60 billion for free community college for millions of Americans, expanding access to broadband Internet, and expanding sick leave for all U.S. workers. Topline: This is not a serious plan. We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington spending. Raising taxes on people that are successful is not going to make people that are struggling more successful. The good news about free enterprise is that everyone can succeed without punishing anyone. Obama’s “Free” Tuition Proposal Will Cost Taxpayers $60 Billion Background: President Obama will propose providing “free” tuition for two years of community college. After much resistance, the White House admitted the proposal will cost $60 billion. The proposal is a rewrite of a state program in Tennessee, but Tennessee Republican leaders don’t support the Washington rewrite of their successful program. Topline: Increased access to affordable education is important for the prosperity of America’s middle class, but President Obama’s spendthrift approach to government is an expensive obstacle. The President’s multi-billion dollar Washington rewrite of a successful Republican state education program is neither serious nor responsible. If Obama’s presidency has shown us anything, it’s that the country doesn’t need another Washington program burdening taxpayers. Tennessee’s success with this program begs the question: why put the federal government in charge of a program that already works at the state level? Full text of RNC Memo sent last week below: FROM: RNC Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski (@kakukowski) TO: Interested Parties RE: SOTU Expectations Next week, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union. Every year, he seems to recycle the same discredited ideas and empty rhetoric. We doubt this year will be much different, but here are three things we expect to see from the President: 1. He will praise bipartisanship in theory, while rejecting it in practice. We’ve all heard the heady rhetoric before—starting with the President’s 2008 campaign. Unfortunately, he has run a highly partisan administration. The latest example: on the week the new Congress was sworn in, the first thing the president did was issue veto threats for bipartisan legislation that would create jobs and increase take-home pay. One bill is to build the Keystone Pipeline. The other is to restore the 40-hour workweek. (Thanks to ObamaCare, many Americans have seen their hours—and thus their paychecks—slashed.) The President’s calls for bipartisanship would be believable if he would seize at least one of the two actual opportunities for bipartisanship right in front him. 2. He will tell struggling Americans that the economy is great. Democrats are falling over themselves to say the economy is great. The DNC has gone so far as to say Americans who are concerned about persistent unemployment are “delusional.” We’re glad to see modest job creation, but the truth is 17 million Americans are unemployed, are underemployed, or have given up on looking for work. The percentage of Americans in the labor force—those who have jobs or want jobs—is at the lowest level since the middle of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. That’s alarming. On top of that, the latest jobs report shows earnings are stagnant. Democrats are happy to tell the media that the economy’s doing well. But what do they say to moms and dads who have been out of work for months—especially those who lost their jobs in ObamaCare-related layoffs or those who could go back to work if the Keystone pipeline were built? 3. He will play small ball. Because the President refuses to work with Congress and insists on doing unpopular things, he will tout executive actions—even those of dubious constitutionality. Instead of laying out big ideas for eliminating the deficit or preserving Medicare or expanding school choice—as Republicans have done year after year—he’ll talk about things that make for good photo-ops and not much else. Consider his latest proposal about “free” college. He simply wants to federalize a state program started in Tennessee, which will make the program more inefficient, more bureaucratic, and inevitably more expensive to taxpayers—to the tune of at least $60 billion in just one decade. If Tennessee has a good thing going on, other states are free to follow suit. That’s the beauty of our system! Why would we want the federal government to come in and mess it all up? *** In short, we don’t have high expectations for the State of the Union—just another laundry list of empty promises. But regardless, Republicans in Congress will continue to legislate on the issues that the American people care about. ### Obama’s Union By The Numbers As Obama Prepares To Paint A Rosy Picture Of His Presidency, A Look At The Numbers He Won’t Mention _____________________________________________________________________ $18.1 Trillion: Total Debt Under Obama As Of January 14, 2014. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/14/15) $10.6 Trillion: Total Debt When Obama Became President On January 20, 2009. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/9/15) $7.5 Trillion: Amount Added To The National Debt Despite Obama’s 2010 State Of The Union Declaration That He Would Not Leave “A Mountain Of Debt.” (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/14/15; President Barack Obama, Remarks On The State Of The Union, Washington, D.C., 1/27/10) $4 Trillion: Amount Of Debt That Obama Once Called “Irresponsible” And “Unpatriotic.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Fargo, ND, 7/3/08) $1.8 Trillion: Cost Of ObamaCare’s Coverage Provisions Through 2024. (CBO, 4/14/14) $1.3 Trillion Total Student Debt Held By Americans. (Federal Reserve Board Of Governors, Accessed 1/14/15) $869.3 Billion: Total Taxes In ObamaCare. (JCT, 6/15/12; CBO, 4/14/14) $95 Billion: Cost Of New Regulations Added Since Obama Became President. (American Action Forum, 1/6/15) $60 Billion: Cost Of Obama’s Community College Tuition Plan Over Ten Years. (The Associated Press, 1/9/15) $3.4 Billion: Average Amount Of Debt Added Daily Since Obama Became President. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/14/15) $3.4 Billion: How Much The Construction Of The Keystone Pipeline Would Contribute To GDP According To A State Department Review. (United States Department Of State, 1/14) 46.5 Million: Average Number Of Americans Receiving Food Stamps In FY 2014. (Department Of Agriculture, Accessed 1/14/15) 13 Million: Average Number Of Americans Who Have Joined The Food Stamp Program Since FY 2009. (Department Of Agriculture, Accessed 1/14/15) 7 Million: Number Of Americans Who Will No Longer Have Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Due To ObamaCare. (Congressional Budget Office, 4/14/14) 5.5 Million: Americans Who Have Fallen Into Poverty Since Obama Became President. (U.S. Census Bureau, Accessed 1/14/15) 2.3 Million Americans Who Are Only Marginally Attached To The Labor Force. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) 401,000 Construction Jobs Lost Since Obama Became President. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) 321,000: Manufacturing Jobs Lost Since Obama Became President. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) 273,000: Number Of People Who Left The Labor Force Between November And December Of 2014. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) $56,492: Current Debt Per Capita Under Obama. (U.S. Census Bureau, Accessed 1/14/15; U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/14/15) 42,100: Number Of Jobs The Construction Of The Keystone Pipeline Would Support Over Two Years According To A State Department Review. (United States Department Of State, 1/14) $21,724: Increase In Debt Per Capita For Americans Since Obama Took Office. (U.S. Census Bureau, Accessed 1/14/15; U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/14/15) $4,154: Increase In Family Health Care Premiums Under Obama. (The Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/10/14) $2,484: Decline In Median Household Income Since Obama Became President. (U.S. Census Bureau, Accessed 1/14/15) 1978: The Last Time The Labor Force Participation Rate Was At Its Current level. (BLS, 1/24/14) 677: Individuals Who Have Been Through Obama’s Revolving Door. (Center For Responsive Politics, Accessed 1/12/15) 215: Rounds Of Golf Obama Has Played Since He Has Taken Office. (Mark Knoller, Twitter Feed, 12/31/14; Mark Knoller, Twitter Feed, 1/4/15) 174: Number Of Days Obama Has Spent All Or Part On Vacation. (CBS News, 12/22/14; Mark Knoller, Twitter Feed, 1/4/15) 100%: Total Debt As A Percentage Of GDP Under Obama. (OMB, Accessed 1/14/15) 65.7%: Labor Force Participation Rate When Obama Became President. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) 62.7% Labor Force Participation Rate In December. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/14/15) 65: Number Of Fundraisers Obama Attended In 2014. (Mark Knoller, Twitter Feed, 12/2/14) 32.8: Average Number Of Weeks Someone Will Be Unemployed. (BLS, 1/14/15) 14.5%: Poverty Rate In 2013. (U.S. Census, Accessed 1/23/14) 13.2%: Poverty Rate Before Obama Became President. (U.S. Census, Accessed 1/23/14) 6: Veto Threats Issued By Obama In The New Year. (The White House Website, Accessed 1/19/15; ABC News, 1/16/15) 0: Attempts To Actually Work With Congress
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 05:50:02 +0000