White House press secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama will rely on executive action to bypass Congress on key agenda items if Republicans gain control of the Senate but also said the president would try to look for areas to compromise with the GOP.
The president’s top domestic priority is expanding economic opportunity for the middle class, Earnest said, and he has pursued policies and ideas that would further that goal.
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“Some of these are ideas that the president can execute unilaterally through the use of executive power. In other circumstances, we’re talking about efforts to work with Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to try to advance this priority,” he told reporters at a Tuesday briefing.
Earnest said Obama will “leave no stone unturned” when it comes to helping middle-class families, but also suggested he might be able to find common ground with Republicans on investments in early childhood education and the country’s infrastructure.
“There might be an opportunity for the president and Republicans to agree on investments in early childhood education,” he said.
Investing in the country’s infrastructure, Earnest said, would “bring jobs in the short-term and strengthen the economy in the long-term.”
Republicans, if they win control of the Senate, are planning to push a repeal of unpopular parts of Obamacare, such as the medical device tax, and and will pursue congressional approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which they view as a major infrastructure project.
Earnest stressed that implementing Obamacare will remain a major priority for the president and the administration.
Obama will be making sure the “achievements that have already been achieved” remain in place, he said.
He also specifically mentioned that Obama is planning to take executive action on some aspect of climate change, a step that will inevitably spur a clash with a GOP-controlled Congress.
“There are still too many Republicans in Congress that don’t think climate change is occurring,” Earnest said. “So the president will use his executive action to take some additional steps.”
