President Barack Obama is set to speak to the nation Tuesday night in his annual State of the Union address.
While the president is expected to express a willingness to work with Congress, he will also make it clear he’ll go it alone if he deems it necessary.
According to White House officials, Obama will announce an executive order that will raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 for new federal contracts.
“It’s not a question of looking at Congress,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said in an interview Tuesday on CBS This Morning.
“As we sit here and try to make sure there’s access to good jobs, we’re going to roll out on our own,” he said. “Congress is slow to action and we’re not going to wait for that.”
The president’s address comes at a time of low approval ratings. Only 37 percent of Americans have confidence he’ll make the right decisions for America’s future.
And while Obamacare remains very unpopular, some Republican senators have offered a new health care reform plan that depends more on the free market and less on government.
Is the president already a lame duck? And what effect will executive orders have on the his relationship with Congress?
