Obama unveils $12b community college aid package

WARREN, Mich. - Conceding that unemployment will get worse before it gets better, President Obama yesterday unveiled a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for a new generation of jobs.

Challenging critics, he said he welcomed the task of turning around the economy. “I love the folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, ‘Well, this is Obama’s economy,’ ’’ the president told an outdoor crowd at Macomb Community College. “That’s fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe.’’

Obama did not identify his target for those comments, but he has been under increasing fire from Republicans over the pace of the economic recovery and the soaring federal deficit. He brought his message to a state reeling from the loss of auto jobs and with an unemployment rate of 14.1 percent, the nation’s worst.

“The hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back,’’ Obama said. “They are the casualties of a changing economy.’’

To that end, he proposed an “American Graduation Initiative’’ to bolster the two-year community college field that serves millions of students as a launching point for careers or a step toward expanded higher education.

Competitive grants would be offered to schools to try new programs or expand training and counseling. High dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to track students and help them earn an associate’s degree or finish their education at a four-year institution. Money would also be spent to renovate and rebuild college facilities, and online courses would be developed to help colleges offer more classes.

The White House says the cost would be $12 billion over 10 years; Obama says it would be paid for by ending wasteful subsidies to banks and private lenders of student loans.

Earlier yesterday at the White House, Obama said he expected that the nation’s unemployment rate would continue to “tick up for several months.’’ In June, it hit 9.5 percent, the highest in 26 years, and many economists expect it to top 10 percent.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Palin’s Post op-ed takes shot at Obama energy plan
In her post-governor life, Sarah Palin apparently wants to be considered a serious policy analyst, as well as a politician.

In an op-ed piece in yesterday’s Washington Post, she critiqued the energy plan President Obama and Democratic allies in Congress are pushing through.

“I am deeply concerned about President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy,’’ wrote Palin, who stunned the political world by announcing July Fourth weekend she is resigning at the end of the month with 18 months left in her term.

In late June, the House - on a 219-212 vote - approved a sweeping energy bill that is designed to curb global warming pollution and encourage clean energy. It includes the so-called cap-and-trade system that would limit carbon emissions and create pollution permits that could be bought and sold.

But Palin called for increasing domestic energy production; as the Republican vice presidential candidate last year, one of her biggest applause lines was “Drill, baby drill.’’ “We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil,’’ Palin argued in the op-ed.

Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who has made climate change a key issue as the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, penned an acidly worded response to Palin that accuses her of ignoring the threat of global warming.

“Yes, she manages to write about the climate change action in Congress without ever mentioning the reason we are doing this in the first place. It’s like complaining about the cost of repairing a roof without factoring in the leaks destroying your home,’’ he wrote yesterday on the Huffington Post website.
16/07/2009