Obama’s Agenda

“Let’s make this a year of action. That’s what most Americans want, for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations.”

Immigration 2014 outlook: Mixed If there is one legislative compromise that Mr. Obama just might reach with lawmakers this year, it could be over an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. But the president barely mentioned the issue on Tuesday, devoting just one short paragraph to what would be one of the biggest achievements of his second-term agenda — if it can get done before he leaves office. “It is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and law enforcement — and fix our broken immigration system,” Mr. Obama said on Tuesday night. It was hardly a hard-edge demand. The soft sell is the result of a calculation inside the White House that the president needs to give House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio some room to maneuver immigration legislation past conservative opponents in his own caucus. But though the House Republican leadership has signaled it could accept a path to legal status — but not citizenship — for many of the 11 million adult immigrants who are in the country illegally, some in the party are urging that the immigration push be abandoned, or delayed until next year, to avoid an internal party rupture before the midterm elections.

Minimum Wage 2014 outlook: Limited Impact President Obama plans to sign an executive order raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for future federal contract workers using his own power to enact a more limited version of a policy that he has yet to push through Congress. Mr. Obama also called on Congress to act on a proposal by congressional Democrats that would lift the minimum wage to $10.10 for all workers across the board. The president advocated a similar minimum wage increase during last year’s State of the Union address, only to watch the proposal languish on Capitol Hill, where opponents argued that it would hurt businesses and stifle job creation.

Climate Change 2014 outlook: Highly Likely One area where President Obama could act aggressively and substantively is on climate change. That is because Congress – with some help from the Supreme Court – has already given the president the authority he needs to roll out aggressive regulations on coal-fired power plants, the nation’s largest source of carbon pollution. Behind the scenes, he’s directed the Environmental Protection Agency to create sweeping regulation that would shutter coal-fired power plants – a plan that could also have a major impact on cutting carbon pollution but faces strong oppostion from the energy industry. He has directed the agency to roll out a draft rule by June 1, with a final rule by June of next year.

America's Withdrawal From Afghanistan 2014 outlook: Highly Likely Underscoring a signature foreign policy initiative of his administration, Mr. Obama noted that the war in Afghanistan was almost over for Americans. “Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over,” Mr. Obama said. If the Afghan government signs a security agreement, Mr. Obama said, the United States stands ready to deploy “a small force of Americans” to carry out “two narrow missions” – training, advising and assisting Afghan security forces, and sustaining counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda. The Obama administration has expressed concern about the size and duration of an American-led allied force in Afghanistan after 2014 and how it could affect long-term American security interests in the region.