President Obama used his first State of the Union address on Wednesday, January 27, 2009 at 9PM Eastern Time to show the country what he has learned and how he intends to govern in the next three years. It was good to see him get tougher and clearer about going forward.

If you missed it - view it now, and let us know what you think about President Obama proposals.



Legislative Initiatives and Policy

The following items were mentioned by the President as potential policy changes, legislative initiatives, or goals coming out of the address:

• Fees on the country's largest banks (to follow up on the Trouble Assets Relief Program)
• Giving $30 billion from recovered TARP money to community banks to extend credit to small businesses
• Job creation
  
  • Building clean energy facilities
  • Giving rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient
  • Slash tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas (giving those breaks to companies that create jobs in the U.S.)
    
• Encourage American innovation (focus on clean energy)
  
  • Building nuclear power plants
  • Exploring off-shore areas for oil and gas
  • Investment in advance biofuels and clean coal technologies
  • Comprehensive energy and climate bill to make clean energy profitable
    
• More exports of goods (goal: double exports in 5 years)
  
  • Launch of a National Export Initiative
    
• Invest in the skills and education of our people
  
  • Renew the the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
  • Revitalize community colleges
  • Ending taxpayer subsidies to banks for student loans
  • $10,000 tax credit for families for four years of college
  • Increase Pell Grants
  • Only 10% of income to student loans
  • All student loan debt forgiven after 20 years, after 10 years if they choose a career in public service
  • Cost cutting at colleges and universities
    
• Middle Class
  
  • Nearly double the child tax credit
  • Giving access to a retirement account for every worker
  • Expanding the tax credit for those who start a nest egg (retirement fund)
  • Refinancing to make more mortgages affordable
    
• Tackling childhood obesity (headed by the First Lady, Michelle Obama)
• Health care reform
• Deficit reduction
  
  • Starting in 2011, freeze government spending for 3 years on discretionary programs (excluding national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security)
  • Eliminate programs that are unaffordable or don't work
  • Extend middle-class tax cuts
  • Bipartisan fiscal commission to provide solutions (created by Executive Order, if necessary)
  • Restoring pay-as-you-go law
    
• Require lobbyists to disclose every contact they make
• Limits on contributions that lobbyists give to candidates
• Reform for earmarks, publish them in a single location on the web
• Crack down on violations of equal pay laws
• Immigration reform
• Repealing Don't ask, don't tell policy within the year to allow homosexuals to openly serve in the military