Obama Calls for New ‘Sputnik Moment’
By JACKIE CALMESINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – President Obama called for another “Sputnik moment” on Monday by having the nation invest more in education and science, previewing a theme that is likely to be part of his agenda and his budget for the second half of his term.
Mr. Obama, who made his remarks during a visit to a community college here, was not yet born when the Soviets’ launch of the Sputnik orbiter in 1957 shocked Americans and prompted a national commitment to education, space and science spending. “Fifty years later, our nation’s Sputnik moment is back,“ Mr. Obama said.
His goal, he said, is to increase education and science spending to 3 percent of the size of the economy, a significant increase from current levels. Mr. Obama also acknowledged the need to reduce the long-term debt, just days after his fiscal commission proposed a $4 trillion, 10-year package of spending cuts and tax increases, and he said the two parties would debate the nation’s spending priorities next year and years beyond.
But, he added, “we cannot cut back on those investments that have the biggest impact on our economic growth” – like educating the workers of the future to compete globally.
Also mindful of the fiscal debates back in Washington, Mr. Obama said — to applause from a friendly audience — that he would not sign an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for high incomes unless Republicans agree to extend both federal unemployment assistance to Americans who have been out of jobs for long periods and several expiring tax breaks for lower-income workers.
He predicted that the two-party talks would yield an agreement soon, “even if it’s not 100 percent of what I want or what Republicans want.”
On the flight to North Carolina, a swing state that Mr. Obama won in 2008 but where his popularity has slid, as in many states, the deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, told reporters that the negotiators have made enough progress that Mr. Obama is confident of reaching a compromise within the next couple days. Both sides say any deal will most likely include a temporary extension of all the rates and of jobless aid.
The Republicans have long demanded that all the Bush-era rates be extended permanently, while Mr. Obama has said since his presidential campaign that he favors extending the rates on taxable income below $250,000 for couples filing jointly and $200,000 for individuals. But he and Congressional Democrats never settled on a strategy or specific legislation, and the combination of a continued weak economy and Republicans’ midterm election fortunes have increased their leverage.
Less than a month before the rates are set to expire and revert to pre-2001 levels, Mr. Obama on Saturday publicly outlined for the first time his conditions for agreeing to extend the tax rates benefiting the richest Americans. He said he would only do so temporarily, and only if Republicans agreed to extend unemployment compensation and other expiring tax breaks for low-wage and middle-income people.
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