What Americans Hope to Hear in the State of the Union: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

Washington, DC – On the eve of President Barack Obama’s third State of the Union Address, Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey, the co-directors of the Campaign for America’s Future urge the President to put job creation in America as the top priority.

Americans want to know that the President remains laser focused on Jobs. Jobs. Jobs,” said Robert Borosage, “We want him to advocate and fight for specific actions that will increase American employment: We want to see an ambitious jobs program. We want to see an ambitious jobs training program.”

“To maintain a middle class in America and allow those of us who have worked hard our whole lives to retire with dignity, we want to see the President speak clearly in defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” said Roger Hickey. To assure that generations of Americans to come are prepared for the workforce, Hickey also encourages the President to fight for increased funding for education at all levels from pre-K through college.

Hickey said, “The President should boldly come out tonight for taxing the one percenters more. Gov. Romney’s tax returns show that wealthy Americans in fact pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.” He noted that polls show that Americans are overwhelmingly for asking millionaires and billionaires to pay more in taxes.

“This is the time to move on dramatic cuts in Pentagon spending,” said Borosage. “The cold war is long over. The wars in the Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down. We need to trim the fat in the defense budget and stop throwing money at the Pentagon and defense contractors.”

“If the President fights for jobs and the middle class, Americans will be with him. If Congress does not support these common sense measures for job creation and for sustaining the American dream including a secure retirement, then Members of Congress will return to their districts to an angry electorate.”