With the final two years of his presidency on the horizon, the Obama administration scrambles to make major changes in public policy.
Assistant Editor
So far the President's checklist is looking more like a compilation of campaign promises yet to be fulfilled. Immigration policies have been overhauled, the Keystone pipeline's construction remains in limbo and the President has just announced a new education plan that has a $60 billion price tag.
In late 2014 the White House announced an immigration plan that would allow nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely. Immediately republican lawmakers and voters alike responded in a resounding show of unity in denouncing the President's plan, while democrats praised the administration for what they say is “leadership that is long overdue”. In early 2015, as republicans took back control of congress, one of the first issues on their agenda was to drastically roll back what Mr. Obama has implemented through executive action.
Some republican lawmakers cringed at the thought of attaching the amendments of the President's immigration plans to a DHS funding bill. It’s a move; they say which sets the party up for failure by setting up a potential government shutdown sparring between democrats and republicans once February arrives. "We have to keep D.H.S. funded, it's as simple as that," said Peter King, the republican member from New York.
Also on the President's list of things to accomplish before the end of his tenure at the White House is the issue of the Keystone XL Trans-Canadian pipeline. The Keystone pipeline came to fruition in the second Bush administration, but quickly became a problem for Mr. Obama once in office. Since, the administration has tried very hard to stall when coming to a final decision regarding the pipeline’s future.
Initially, Mr. Obama asserted that the pipeline could not move forward until a State Department review of the project was complete. The said review was then put on hold because of a case under review by the Nebraska Supreme Court; which was deciding on the fate of the pipelines pathway through that state. In January the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out the decision of a lower court, which paved the way for the State Department's review to continue.
Because of the decision made by the Nebraska court, significant pressure has been put back on the Obama administration to move forward with the plans for construction of the pipeline. After the court's decision, the House voted 266-163 in favor of Keystone XL. "Finally, it's time to start building," said Speaker of the House John A. Boehner. But during a press briefing aboard Air Force One en route to Tennessee, White House spokesman Eric Schultz reiterated veto plans made by the President if any such bill crosses his desk. "The President believes that the process should unfold at the State Department and that any legislative end-run around that process is misguided, and he will veto that bill."
Following his trend of introducing new policies aimed at positively affecting the middle class; in a speech meant as a preview to the President's annual State of the Union address, Mr. Obama announced an education plan that would make two years of community college free for "students who are willing to work for it," said the President. The President's new initiative is modeled after a new program recently implemented by the state of Tennessee, and is expected to make two years of higher education the norm for American students graduating high school. The plan is estimated to cost the federal government $60 billion over a ten year time span, and hopes to affect nearly 9 million students.