The President and Vice President Together on Easing Burdens for the Middle Class

President Obama and Vice President Biden held a Middle Class Task Force meeting during which they discussed key initiatives for middle class families. Topics of discussion previewed the major themes of the President’s State of the Union address, which include creating good jobs, addressing the deficit, changing Washington, and fighting for middle class families.

After travelling across the country and hearing from struggling parents, students, and workers, Vice President Biden and the Task Force proposed several policy initiatives to help middle class families, including:

• Nearly doubling the child and dependent care tax credit for families making under $85,000
• Limiting a student’s federal loan payments to 10 percent of his/her income
• Creating a system of automatic workplace IRAs
• Expanding tax credits to match retirement savings – it better be the same for single/married. I’m already sick of the renting/no kids/single penalties. FAIR TREATMENT FOR ALL!!!
• Expanding support for families balancing work while caring for elderly relatives

Vice President Biden, emphasizing first and foremost that getting jobs back on track was the highest priority, explained why these measures are also of tremendous importance in remarks after the meeting: “We give them the tools, the flexibility, even just a chance to succeed, we’re not only going to rebuild this economy, we’re going to offer millions of Americans to build a future that they hope and still believe is available to them.” The web page is here