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Obama, who is returning to Washington on Sunday from a
two-week family vacation in Hawaii, will begin a tour on
Wednesday of Michigan, Arizona and Tennessee.
He will highlight themes he will talk about in his annual State
of the Union address to Congress, which is set for Jan. 20.
The initiatives on housing, college costs and jobs will include
a mix of legislative proposals and actions that the president
will take that do not need congressional approval, said White
House spokesman Eric Schultz.
In addition to unveiling new initiatives, Obama will seek to put
a spotlight on the improvement in the U.S. economy.
Obama's tour will come as the new Congress convenes in
Washington with Republicans newly in control of both the House
of Representatives and the Senate. Republicans, who already held
a majority in the House, are set to take charge of the Senate
after their victories in the November midterm elections.
They will begin the year with plans to fight Obama's agenda on
issues from the environment to his signature healthcare law, his
move to change immigration policy and his decision last month to
normalize U.S. ties with Cuba.
Obama will seek to portray himself as more in touch with the
concerns of ordinary Americans than Republicans, an
administration official said.
(Reporting By Julia Edwards; Editing by Caren Bohan and Jonathan
Oatis)
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