Here & Now

President Obama Returns to Wisconsin

Barack Obama:

Well, it’s good to be in Wisconsin!

Good to be in Waukesha.

Zac Schultz:

President Barack Obama brings his State of the Union message to Waukesha. I’m Zac Schultz filling in for Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here and Now,” we’ll hear more from the president, and then we’ll look over his latest approval numbers. Then, what to do with increased tax revenue. It depends on where you live. We’ll compare Minnesota and Wisconsin’s approaches to handling a budget surplus. Freezing temps are turning up the need for propane across the state. Frederica Freyberg will report on the shortage from Phillips. Finally, we’ll talk to one of the legislature’s most endangered species, a moderate, retiring senator Dale Schultz.

But first, in this week's State of the Union Address President Obama moved past the job creation theme of past speeches, instead focusing on how to make sure workers are properly trained to do the jobs that are available now. President Obama was in Wisconsin Thursday. He toured the GE Gas Engines plant in Waukesha, complimenting the job training program there, and talked about a $500 million competition to get more community colleges to work with local employers.

Barack Obama:

So what you’re doing at this plant and across this region can be a model for the country, which is why I’ve asked congress to fund more reliably-proven programs that connect more ready to work Americans with ready to be filled jobs.

Let’s find what programs are working best and let’s duplicate them and expand them. And later this year I’m going to ask Tom Perez, my secretary of labor, to apply those lessons as we conduct the next round of national competition we're going to set up challenging community colleges to partner with local employers and national industries to design job-driven training programs. We’re going to have one winner from every state.