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Obama touts executive moves on Western trip

by Justin Sink - 07/08/14 6:00 AM ET

President Obama will highlight executive actions his administration has taken on a range of economic issues during a swing through Colorado and Texas this week, senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said in a blog post Tuesday.

Obama will dine with a woman named Alex who received a raise after her employer was inspired by the president’s State of the Union call for a higher hourly wage for workers, the White House said.

{mosads}And the president will tout the executive actions he has taken this year during an economic speech Thursday in Austin, Pfeiffer said.

The events are also designed to put the president back in campaign-style settings that provide distance from Washington, and local headlines that can help boost his flagging popularity ratings.

“Going all the way back to the early days of the campaign, whenever President Obama shook off his schedule and busted out of the bubble, we would say ‘The Bear is loose,’ ” Pfeiffer wrote. “Lately, the bear has been loose a lot.”

The events, which coincide with a series of fundraisers benefiting Democratic candidates, are also intended to sharpen a contrast with the GOP ahead of the midterm elections in the fall. Obama has used a series of events this month to argue that he has taken action on behalf of the middle class, despite Republican obstruction.

“While Congressional Republicans continue to block votes on important issues like equal pay and the minimum wage and undertake taxpayer funded political stunts like Speaker Boehner’s plan to sue the President for doing his job, the President will continue to do everything in his power — with and without congress — to create economic opportunity for all Americans,” Pfeiffer wrote.

But Republicans have accused Obama of abusing his executive authorities, with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) threatening a lawsuit against the White House.

In an op-ed published over the weekend, Boehner said he would bring legislation to the floor later this month authorizing “the House of Representatives to file suit in an effort to compel President Obama to follow his oath of office and faithfully execute the laws of our country.”

“Too often over the past five years, the president has circumvented the American people and their elected representatives through executive action, changing and creating his own laws, and excusing himself from enforcing statutes he is sworn to uphold — at times even boasting about his willingness to do it, as if daring the American people to stop him,” Boehner wrote.

In the piece, Boehner said that in his view, Obama had “not faithfully executed the laws when it comes to a range of issues, including his health care law, energy regulations, foreign policy and education.”

Tags John Boehner