President Obama to Offer ‘Robust Agenda’ in State of the Union

President Obama is set to deliver his second State of the Union address Tuesday night. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett took to the morning shows Tuesday to preview President Obama’s State of the Union address. She told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” that the president will be presenting “a robust agenda that lends itself to strong bipartisan support.”

“He’s going to be proposing strategic, targeted spending that is smart,” said Jarrett. “For example, we want to invest in innovation. We want to invest in education. We want to invest in infrastructure. But we are also going to have to tighten our belts and be more efficient. If we have programs that are outdated and are no longer effective, we need to get rid of those programs and make sure we are tightening our belts.”

“That’s the overall message: How to keep America winning for the future,” Jarrett added.

There does appear to be one area off the table for consideration when discussing that belt tightening.

When the president’s deficit commission, headed up by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, came out with its recommendations last month, Democratic Party leaders went into overdrive attacking the commission’s call for raising the retirement age or lowering benefits for Social Security recipients.

It now appears President Obama will stand with his party on that issue when he addresses the country Tuesday night.

“The direction of Obama’s speech became apparent over the weekend, when the White House informed Democratic lawmakers and advocates for the elderly that he would not endorse the commission’s recommendation to raise the retirement age and make other cuts to Social Security — the single largest federal program,” writes Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post.

In fact, Democrats are eager to paint the lawmaker who will provide the Republican response, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, as a dedicated supporter of privatizing Social Security based on his proposed road map to fiscal solvency. (More on that below.)

And be sure you don’t miss the Washington Post’s fascinating look at all the Lenny Skutniks of the world and what happens to them after their SOTU moment passes.

Click here for a preview of the NewsHour’s coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union address.

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE?

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., a leading conservative voice on fiscal issues, will deliver the official Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday.

But it’s another post-speech rebuttal that’s causing quite a stir on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is planning to deliver her own response to the president’s speech that will be streamed on the Tea Party Express website. (CNN and Fox News are among the cable news outlets expected to carry her remarks.)

Rep. Bachmann, a founder of the Tea Party caucus in Congress, has also flirted recently with a possible presidential run in 2012.

At an off-camera briefing with reporters Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was quick to clear up any confusion about who in fact was speaking on behalf of the party. “Paul Ryan’s giving the official Republican response,” Cantor said. “And Michele Bachmann, just as the other 534 members of the House and Senate, are going to have opinions as to the State of the Union. Again, this is a process that happens every year, and I look forward to all comments.”

POLITICO’s Richard Cohen previews Rep. Ryan’s small government message Tuesday night: “In rejecting Obama’s planned call for ‘targeted investments’ — which Republicans contend is a metaphor for more stimulus spending — Ryan reportedly will respond that the ‘spending binge’ of the past two years failed to stem historic unemployment and the nation’s largest deficits. Instead, he will emphasize the need to cut federal spending in order to boost job creation.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Janet Hook, meanwhile, offers this profile of the 40-year-old, Janesville, Wis.-native who was elected to Congress in 1998: “Republicans not only have made Mr. Ryan chairman of the House Budget Committee, but on Tuesday the House is expected to vote to give him unprecedented powers to force spending cuts for the current fiscal year. That authority will allow Mr. Ryan to act unilaterally in setting an overall spending level for the rest of the year, a job usually handled by his full panel.”

Democrats have criticized the selection of Rep. Ryan for the GOP response, citing the congressman’s “Roadmap for America’s Future,” a long-term plan he released last year to balance the federal budget that included deep spending cuts and entitlement reform.

“I will do my best to bring the Ryan plan to the floor of the United States Senate, to give my Republican colleagues the opportunity to vote to privatize Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and make massive cuts on programs needed by ordinary people at the same time as they give tax breaks to the rich,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Monday on MSNBC.

When it comes to Rep. Bachmann’s statement, the White House remained mum Tuesday. “Our focus is on what the president is going to say,” senior adviser Jarrett told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “There are a lot of voices that deserve to be heard,” Jarrett added.

A GENTLEMAN’S HANDSHAKE

It doesn’t appear a vote to significantly change the rules surrounding the use of the filibuster in the Senate is likely to pass, if it even gets to a vote.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., joined by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and others have been pushing to change the rules of the Senate to make it more difficult to block legislation simply by threatening to filibuster, thereby setting a 60-vote threshold to accomplish anything in the chamber.

Their push appears likely to fall short as the No. 3 Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and the No. 3 Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander, have been hammering out what amounts to a gentleman’s handshake agreement between party leaders.

“Everyone would agree that the Senate, I wouldn’t say totally broken, but needs some fixing,” said Sen. Schumer on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday. “The filibuster is used far too much,” he said. “I think we can, in a bipartisan way, move to change some of the egregious things such as anonymous holds and cut back on number of presidential appointments that need Senate confirmation.”

Sen. Schumer went on to say that the nub of the deal requires Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to say that he will not block everything and threaten a filibuster as standard operating procedure and for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to agree not to fill the amendment tree before Republicans have a chance to offer significant amendments to any given bill.

That handshake agreement has yet to be finalized.

For more, check out Carl Hulse’s story in the New York Times.

NO RUN FOR RAHM?

If it wasn’t for two state appellate judges, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler might still be the No.1 story Tuesday in the Windy City.

But,the judges’ ruling Monday that Rahm Emanuel did not meet the one-year residency requirement for mayor turned next month’s election on its head and left the former White House chief of staff and Illinois congressman scrambling to preserve his candidacy.

Emanuel’s lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Illinois Supreme Court Monday to order Chicago elections officials to keep his name on the ballot. Emanuel told reporters Monday he had “no doubt in the end we will prevail in this effort.”

The judges found that Emanuel did not meet the residency requirement because he lived in Washington for two years while working as chief of staff, although he did continue to own a home in Chicago and voted absentee in Illinois.

Jarrett told ABC’s Stephanopolous that the White House hasn’t been in touch with Emanuel, but that “Rahm is going to vigorously appeal. Rahm is a fighter.” She went on to say that President Obama “believes that [Emanuel] is eligible. And I believe that he believes that Rahm will pursue his appeals in the courts and as he said then he thinks Rahm would make a terrific mayor.”

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