US President Barack Obama on Thursday visited a Democratic-leaning enclave of conservative Kansas upon finishing his two-day tour of the American heartland and touted before the residents proposals to providing a more affordable childcare for those in need.
After addressing the State of the Union speech on Tuesday in a completely defiant mode, the Democratic President toured two politically conservative states in an attempt to woo the Americans with his policies.
Obama’s proposals for childcare include investment into a fund to assist families afford care. The President intends to raise the maximum childcare tax credit to USD 3,000 per young child and begin a new “innovation fund” in order to help jumpstart childcare programs for parents living in rural areas as well as those professional parents working in odd hours.
“It is time that we stop treating childcare as a side issue or a ‘women’s issue’. This is a family issue. This is a national economic priority for all of us. We can do better than we’re doing right now,” Obama said.
Obama has some ancestral roots in Kansas as his mother was born in the state. While addressing a huge crowd at a university athletic facility, the president joked that his relation with the state didn’t help him in his two previous campaigns for the White House.
Lawrence, which is home to University of Kansas, is a rare Democratic-leaning part of Kansas.
“I lost two straight here. But that’s OK…I might’ve won sections of Lawrence,” he said while addressing an enthusiastic crowd of over 7,000 people at a university athletic facility.
The White House is hoping some of the support and enthusiasm to Washington, where a Republican-controlled Congress is not very supportive to many key policy ideas of Obama.
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