President Obama’s proposal of free community college, a theme he elaborated on in Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address, has caught the nation’s imagination at the very least, even if some are saying that it is too visionary to ever be implemented.
Republican lawmakers, such as Mitch McConnell, have already said that they are unlikely to go for President Obama’s proposal. But White House Domestic Policy Director Cecelia Muñoz attempted to frame the concept as “bipartisan” in its origins in a press call with reporters on Wednesday.
“The origins of this proposal are in a project that has taken shape in the state of Tennessee. The president unveiled this proposal Tennessee with the Republican governor. And [so] it’s possible to get this done in a red state,” Muñoz said. “The city of Chicago is also doing the same thing. So [the President] highlighted that these are bipartisan ideas, they’re the kinds of things that Congress can and should absolutely get done.”
Tennessee’s Republican Senator, Lamar Alexander, traveled to the state with Obama to announce the community college plan, on January 9. On the same day, Alexander released a statement saying that the plan would be better implemented on the state, rather than federal, level.
To fund Obama’s vision, Congress must agree to consolidate and modify various education tax incentives — and raise taxes on the wealthy and financial institutions. The White House said that the program would cost $60 billion over the next decade.
Muñoz argued that the current system of tax incentives is “bewildering and complex,” implying that it ought to be reformed anyway. She said that many families and individuals are failing to take advantage of the benefits already on offer.
“The Government Accountability Office found that about 27 percent of families who claim one of the tax benefits under our laws would have been better off claiming a different one. And about 14 percent of the families who are eligible for some of the tax benefits for education fail to claim any benefit at all,” Muñoz said.
