Reaction To Obama ‘State Of The Union’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama travels to suburban Maryland and the Pittsburgh area today to promote plans he unveiled last night to boost wages for some workers and help many lower income Americans save for retirement.

In his State of the Union address Obama said he'll raise the minimum wage for workers carrying out new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, and he asked Congress to do the same for the federal minimum wage for other Americans.

House Speaker John Boehner says President Barack Obama likely has the authority to raise the minimum wage for new federal contract workers.

But Boehner warns against any other unilateral steps that could encroach on the Constitution.

In the Republican response following Obama's State of the Union speech, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state said Obama's policies "are making people's lives harder."

Today, House Republicans begin a two-day retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore.