White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough Visits CBS THIS MORNING

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said today on CBS This Morning (7:00-9:00 AM) that the Obama Administration is looking to use more executive orders to create change, including an increase in the minimum wage for federal contractors.

"We'll look to work with Congress where we can, but I think as we've seen over the last several years now, Congress sometimes is a little slow to action," McDonough told co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell in an interview that was broadcast today, Jan. 28, 2014 on the CBS Television Network. "We're not going to wait for that."

McDonough added that "it's not really a question of looking at Congress, it's a question of looking at the American people and trying to make sure that there's opportunity, and optimistic opportunity and action for every American."

Excerpts of the interview are below. Watch the appearance here:

ROSE: Let me start with what the President will say tonight in terms of the minimum wage as he asks Congress to do more. How high does he want the minimum wage to go?

MCDONOUGH: What he will say for federal contractors is it should be $10.10 an hour and there's a proposal in both the House and Senate to do that across the board, not just for contractors but for the federal minimum wage across the board. We think $10.10 an hour is the way to go. Nobody who works full-time and works hard at their job should live in poverty. We think $10.10 an hour will allow them to do that.

ROSE: There's also this talk out of Washington that the President and his staff, you included, and the cabinet, looked at 2013 and looked at the problems you had with Congress and said, we're going to go the direction of executive orders, and that's how we'll regain our own agenda. Is that the way you would characterize it?

MCDONOUGH: Well, thanks, Charlie. It's not really a question of looking at Congress, it's a question of looking at the American people and trying to make sure that there's opportunity, and optimistic opportunity and action for every American. So as we sit here and try to make sure that there's access to good-paying jobs, high-tech manufacturing, retirement security for Americans, rather than sit and wait for Congress to take action, we're going to go ahead and roll out on our own using the President's authorities. We'll look to work with Congress where we can, but I think as we've seen over the last several years now, Congress sometimes is a little slow to action. We're not going to wait for that because we believe the American people are looking for concrete, realistic proposals to see the kind of progress and opportunity for everybody.

O'DONNELL: But Denis you would acknowledge you still need Congress though to make major changes in the law, that's the way the system is set up. I went back and looked at the President's State of the Union Address from 2013. Then he called for an increase in the minimum wage. Nothing. Last year he called for immigration reform. Nothing. Last year he called for new gun control measures. Nothing. Is tonight's address more of a wish list than a to-do list?

MCDONOUGH: Well, I think if you look back at the last year, I think you saw some important things - an important advance on a bipartisan proposal on immigration reform through the Senate that would dramatically grow the economy and reduce the course of the deficit over time. You also saw, even while Congress was not taking action on the things that you said, you saw us taking a lot of action last year. We produced more energy in this country, more oil in this country, than we imported for the first time in 20 years.

O'DONNELL: Was that the White House that did that?

MCDONOUGH: No, that's the work of the American workers and companies along with the Administration's all-of-the-above energy strategy that said, "Hey, let's make sure that we're getting access to all the energy that we can."

ROSE: It is also said that the President knows that midterm elections are coming up, and that talk about the presidential campaign will begin earnestly right after those elections, and so this is his last chance, his best State of the Union opportunity to allow for his vision and the legacy he hopes to recapture.

MCDONOUGH: Well, I think when I sit in my office and think about what my job is, my job is to make sure the American people see publicly what I see from the President every day privately. Focused on the economy, creating good-paying jobs, high-tech manufacturing, retirement security, so I don't think the President thinks about it in terms of election or his legacy or anything else. I think he thinks about it in terms of making sure the American people have access to a good education, to skills and training, to good-paying jobs, the way he did as a young man, the kinds of opportunities he had as a young man to get in the position that he's in now. So that's what we'll be pushing for in the course of this year, not because of politics but because the American people deserve the kind of opportunities that he and others have had.

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