Obama urged Democrat lawmakers to adopt his economic policy at the state level as “families in your districts and states are counting on you”.
In a meeting with 40 lawmakers at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building that is beside the White House, he was clear about his expectation from Congress in saying that they will not take much action for the remainder of his Presidency.
Yet in looking at the bright side, he also said, “That puts more of a burden — but also a great opportunity — on state legislatures all across the country, because you can act when Washington won’t.”
He also spoke about “changes” that have been made such as 17 states raising the minimum wage, four states passing laws to give workers paid family leave and two states offering free community college.
It is also evident that this summit of lawmakers is a strategy of the White House to appeal to state and local governments to adopt Obama’s economic policy so that this will pressure Congress to act as a result.
What Obama also has on his state government agenda was the expansion of pre-Kindergarten education, limiting pollution to power plants and the revision of licensing laws that will help people get more jobs.
Of course, this discussion between the President and state lawmakers was perfectly timed to coincide with a deadline for Republican Congress to come up with a spending Bill that will keep them open until the New Year. Just as these lawmakers were done, the President got a printed copy of this Bill so as to avoid an imminent shutdown until December.