Barack Obama this week will lay the foundation for the last two years of his presidency. Helping middle- and lower-income households will be the cornerstone.

Obama is trying to shore up his legacy and help Democrats seeking to win the White House in 2016 with policies intended to aid Americans who have failed to benefit from the economic recovery.

On Jan. 17, the White House said Obama would propose new taxes on the wealthiest Americans to fund expanded tax credits for higher education and child care and create a new break for two-earner couples, policies that will aid the middle class.

From expanded health coverage to broadening a tax credit for workers, the president also wants to put more money in the pockets of lower-income earners. In the run-up to his State of the Union address Tuesday night, he has been unveiling initiatives including one for paid family leave and another to make community college free. His plans face opposition from the Republican-run Congress, which wants to cut taxes and spending.

“Now that the economy’s in a stronger place than it’s been in a very long time, we need to double down on our efforts to deal with wage stagnation and declining economic mobility,” Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “In divided government, each side should lay out their agenda, what they think is in the best interest of the country. And then we can figure out if there are things in the middle we agree on.”

Losing Ground

Many Americans have continued to lose ground since the recession ended. Median household income fell 3.9 percent to $51,939 in 2013 compared with 2009 when Obama took office, U.S. Census Bureau data show. The poorest fifth fared even worse, with incomes dropping 5.9 percent to $20,900.

While workers at the bottom have been aided by government transfer payments, the picture is grim: Transfers boosted after- tax 2011 income for the bottom fifth from $15,500 -- based solely on earnings from work -- to $24,100, according to a November 2014 Congressional Budget Office analysis that uses different data than the Census report.

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