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Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress writes that despite the popularity of President Obama’s State of the Union proposals, Congress is standing in their way.

President Obama’s sixth State of the Union address may fall on even more deaf ears Tuesday as both chambers of Congress have Republican majorities for the first time in his presidency. But polling shows that Americans actually support his progressive policies, from minimum wage hikes to increased tax rates for the wealthy. Here are some of the proposals we’re likely to hear tonight that have broad, bipartisan support and could become reality — if Congress didn’t stand in the way:

Minimum Wage

As he has in the past few State of the Union addresses, Obama will likely call for an increase in the federal minimum wage. But for the first time this year, amajority of the states have minimum wages above the federal minimum of $7.25. While November’s election brought a red wave across the country, four conservative states — Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota —approved raises to their minimum wages. Some Republican candidates were forced to flip positions to endorse an increase in order to win their races.

 While only four states had the opportunity to increase their minimum wages this last election, a 2014 poll found that 73 percent of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
Read the rest at ThinkProgress