President Obama enlisted the help of billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates in selling his education overhaul ideas Tuesday, a move aimed at appealing to business leaders to get behind his plans. In a speech alongside Melinda Gates, Obama argued that the United States should put more money into advancing a "21st century curriculum" to help prepare the future work force. "There is no better economic policy than one that produces more graduates with the skills they need to succeed," he said at the TechBoston Academy. The pilot school is a pet project of the Gates Foundation and draws heavily on help from Cisco Systems, IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Google. The direct appeal to business leaders is expected to be a key component of Obama's message during a month of travels.
SENATE TEST VOTES PUSHED INTO TODAY
Senate leaders delayed until Wednesday consideration of a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, as Democrats accused Republicans of reneging on an agreement to stage side-by-side votes on two competing plans to cut spending. Last week, in talks with Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to bring the GOP proposal to cut $61 billion from domestic agencies over the next six months and the Democratic plan to cut less than $5 billion to the Senate floor, where neither is expected to muster the 60 votes needed to avert a filibuster. If both proposals fail, both sides would have leverage to demand a compromise. But on Tuesday, some Senate Republicans balked. For many Senate Republicans, the House measure is littered with political land mines.
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