Ever since taking the mantle of the United States President, Barack Obama has laid out hefty plans for the country. Mainly, Obama has been focusing on the state of the economy. As the new US President Obama has faced with many domestic and international problems. Obama’s plans are nothing less than very ambitious. Perhaps a great ambition is needed to be able to tackle all these problems that plague the world let alone the United States.
So far, Obama could be facing yet another uphill battle again. It will be another in a series of uphill battles that Obama will have to face. This one could be an interesting uphill battle.
Obama’s budget talks about initiatives in many fields. Education and energy are such examples of the initiatives. So far, payments to insurance companies will be cut. However, this will increase taxes on the following: the wealthy, oil companies, and the gas industry.
The New York Times has reported that tax incentives for the oil industry will be done away with. However, this could inevitably put Obama at odds with states that produce oil.
It has brought criticism from the American Petroleum Institute. According to the Jack Gerard, the group’s president, the taxes would hurt energy security. Gerard said that it will hurt new investment in domestic oil.
However, critics had their say as well. They fired back by saying that the oil industry has too much help. They say that alternative energy could be funded by doing away with tax breaks for the oil industry. Those that have watched Obama’s “State of the Nation” or “Address to Congress” several nights to go, one should remember Obama taking about the importance of alternative energy sources.
So far, it has sparked cries of “class warfare.” Opponents of Obama’s budget plan have said that it is placing a battle between those that “have” and those that “have-not.” Again, this will prove to be another interesting battle between Obama and the Republican Party.
Obama said that important investments were done away with in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy. In this respect, Obama has said: “There’s nothing wrong with making money, but there is something wrong when we allow the playing field to be tilted so far in the favor of so few.”
In regards to the initiative on education, Obama has said that the government’s role will be expanded to help more people get into college. He wants to grow the Pell Grant program as a result.
Obama also talked about overhauling the system of student loans.
“Out basic thought is, rather than continue to subsidize banks, we want to help dramatically more students get more access to more aid,” said Arne Duncan, Obama’s Education Secretary.
The aspect of education was also covered in Obama’s “Address to Congress” on Tuesday Night. For those that paid close attention to it should have heard Obama talk about the importance of education.
But there are other things revealed in Obama’s budget plan. One of them will be bigger scrutiny of the buying of weapons by the Pentagon.
The budget also curtails a boost to funds to improve the computer networks of the United States. An article in Reuters explains that it will catalyze a market for information and defense contractors.
Obama has explained that the threat to technology used by the government is real. He adds that it is getting bigger. It was revealed via a simulation that the country is not prepared for a major cyber-attack.
Another part of the budget could put Obama at odds with both federal and military employees. It calls on a freeze on pay raises.
These are things included in the budget plan. So far, this budget plan will prove to be an interesting battle for Obama.
Overall, it is expected that it will be a major uphill battle for Obama in this respect. However, there are those that believe that Obama’s efforts may not be complicated that much due to the majority that Democrats control in both Houses of the Untied States Congress. One person also adds that not many people think highly of the wealthy due to the current situation.
In this respect, the argument of “class warfare” has been brought out once again. One could ask: Will this argument carry weight? Should that be the case: What will the political ramifications and fallout amount to?
Asides from the argument of “class warfare,” Republicans have already given the same argument as it did in regards to the economic stimulus that was recently signed. The GOP opposition has criticized it with being loaded with all sorts of spending.
“This is really big government,” said GOP Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. He is the senior member of the House Budget Committee. GOP Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire also gave criticism.
On a side note, Gregg was Obama’s second choice as Commerce Secretary after Democratic Governor and former Democratic Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson of New Mexico had withdrawn. Currently, Obama’s third choice is former Democratic Governor Gary Locke of Washington. Gregg withdrew his nomination due to his disagreement on the economic stimulus.
On an interesting note, it does bring back the age-old debate of the Republican and Democratic ideologies.