After a week filled with controversy and criticism, President Barack Obama left town Friday for Baltimore, the second stop on his "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour." The trip, which was previously scheduled, took him to a dredging manufacturer and an elementary school, with the next stop a community center.
At Ellicott Dredges in Baltimore, Obama announced an effort to reduce infrastructure red tape as a way to boost the economy.
"Sometimes it takes too long to get projects off the ground," Obama said during a speech, citing permits, red tape and planning delays related to infrastructure projects. "Today, I'm directing agencies across the government to do what it takes to cut timelines for breaking ground on major infrastructure projects in half. And what that means is that construction workers get back on the jobs faster, it means more money going back into local economies, and it means more demand for outstanding dredging equipment that is made right here in Baltimore."
The stop at the manufacturer adds the potential of controversy to his trip. The owner of Ellicott Dredges, Peter Bowe, shares the view of many congressional Republicans in support of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Bowe testified before Congress on the issue Thursday. Obama has yet to announce a position on the pipeline?which would carry oil from Canada and the northern United States to the Gulf Coast?but faces pressure from environmentalists and others to reject the proposal.
Controversy over the pipeline has dogged the president on other unrelated trips. During a fundraising swing in California last month, the fact that the event was being hosted by pipeline opponent Tom Steyer, a hedge fund billionaire and environmentalist, drew pipeline protesters who sought to draw attention to the issue.
Obama made no references to the pipeline in his public remarks at Ellicott Dredges, but thanked Bowe?who gave the president a tour of the facility?for his work at the company.
Much of the president's speech echoed remarks he made last week in Texas, his first stop on the "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour,"??when he?announced manufacturing competitions.
As he did last week, Obama conceded that Washington may not appear to the public to be a place generating much positive news, but that there are things to celebrate about the economy-- including rebounds in the housing market and gains in certain industry sectors.
But on Friday, Obama's standard criticism of members of Congress (who he has been publicly criticizing for stalemates in Washington) appeared to be tempered by the attendance of Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, and Reps. Steny Hoyer, Paul Sarbanes and Elijah Cummings -- all Democrats-- who were in Friday's audience.
"All of your members of Congress every single day are working fighting on your behalf in terms of making sure we're growing an economy that creates outstanding middle-class jobs," Obama said.
Obama's visit also included a tour to Moravia Park Elementary School, which he linked in his speech to his proposal to create universal pre-kindergarten, which was outlined in his State of the Union address.
He was scheduled after his speech at Ellicott Dredges to visit the Center for Urban Families-- a non-profit that aides fathers and families-- for a roundtable discussion. That visit will be tied to his Promise Zone budget proposal to identify and assist hard-hit communities, according to the White House.
As the president left town Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee on Capitol Hill grilled the ousted acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, over recent revelations that the IRS targeted conservatives applying for tax-exempt status. After the allegations were confirmed Wednesday by the Treasury Department inspector general's report, Obama announced that Miller had been forced to resign.
That action came amid continued pressure on the administration to explain revisions made to talking points related to the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya?to which the White House responded Wednesday by releasing those emails to the media?and controversy surrounding the Department of Justice's secret seizure of Associated Press reporters' and editors' phone records in the investigation of a national security leak.
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