By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
c.2010 New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a package of modest initiatives aimed at helping middle class families, including tax credits for child care, caps on some student loan payments and a requirement that companies let workers save automatically for retirement, senior administration officials said Sunday.
By focusing on what one White House official calls “the sandwich generation” – struggling families squeezed between sending their children to college and caring for elderly parents – Obama hopes to use his speech on Wednesday to demonstrate that he understands the economic pain of ordinary Americans. The proposals also include expanded tax credits for retirement savings and money for programs to help families care for elderly relatives.
The address is still being written, but one senior official, describing it on condition of anonymity, said its key themes would include “creating good jobs, addressing the deficit, helping the middle class and changing Washington.”