Obama Proposes a 'New Foundation' for Middle Class Americans

Many middle class Americans aren't exactly feeling overly confident about their financial futures these days. But President Barack Obama says he's here to help.

On Monday, the president unveiled a host of initiatives aimed at helping the millions of folks who toil each day workin' for the weekend. Appearing alongside Vice President Joe Biden, who headed up a Middle Class Task Force, Obama said he hopes his proposals will create "a new foundation" for the middle class, and his announcement comes on the heels of his trip to Ohio on Friday, where he met with a lot of the regular Americans he's hoping these new ideas will help.

"Hopefully some of these steps will re-establish some of the security that has slipped away in recent years," Obama said, according to The New York Times. "Because in the end, that’s how Joe and I measure progress — not how the markets are doing, but how the American people are doing.”

So what exactly did he propose?

For starters, the prez called on Congress to nearly double the child care tax credit for families earning less than $85,000, a move that could save the average eligible family $900 in taxes.

He also pledged to help folks drowning in student loans by placing a cap on federal loan payments for recent college graduates at 10 percent of income above a basic living allowance. Obama also suggested expanding financing to help families caring for elderly relatives.

Biden said he hopes the proposals will aid what he called "the sandwich generation," who are squeezed between sending their kids to college and assisting elderly parents. And it seems Obama agrees with his sentiment.

“Unfortunately, the middle class has been under assault for a long time,” the president said. “Too many Americans have known their own painful recessions long before any economist declared a recession.”

Obama's initiatives comes just two days before he is set to deliver his first State of the Union address, which will likely focus heavily on the economy, jobs and the burdens so many middle class families now face.

Here's hoping Obama's proposals gain some traction, and truly help the people they are supposed to assist.

Photo courtesy of United States Senate via Wikimedia Commons