Obama touts new overtime rule as a "win for working families"

President Obama is touting a new Labor Department rule, finalized earlier this week, that extends overtime protections to over four million more Americans, calling it a "win for working families."

"This is the single biggest step I can take through executive action to raise wages for the American people," Mr. Obama said in a video released Saturday.

The White House announced the finalized rule Wednesday, which doubles the salary threshold for workers that would automatically qualify for time-and-a-half overtime wages. That means workers earning up to $47,476 a year (or $913 a week) would get overtime benefits starting Dec. 1 -- more than double the current amount of $23,660 a year (or $455).

The move, according to the administration's estimates, would raise wages for working Americans by $12 billion over the next 10 years.

The president pointed to the historically low percentage of workers that are eligible for overtime pay, citing reports that showed that 40 years ago, more than 60 percent of the American workforce was eligible for overtime wages based on their salaries.

"Today," Mr. Obama said, "that number is down to 7 percent."

Still, the Labor Department rule, which would undergo an update every three years, is just one step the president said should be taken to improve conditions for the middle class. He cautioned: "We still have more work to do to make sure this economy works for everybody, not just those at the top."

In their own video, Republicans pushed the White House to emphasize reform of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We need President Obama to keep his word to you," Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis said to veterans in a video address Saturday, "and make it his top priority to fix the problems at the VA."

Bilirakis, who is the vice-chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, focused on the need to clean up VA bureaucracy and reduce veteran wait times, which seemed to be "business as usual" for the department.

"We cannot accept that," Bilirakis said. "That's why, in recent months, the House and Senate have been working on reforms to boost accountability and improve care."

The Florida Republican pushed a House-passed bill that funds the department and uses "constitutional authority to hold the VA accountable."

"That means making the VA meet requirements for improving electronic health records," he said. "It means adding hundreds of new employees to tackle claims appeals. And it means prohibiting all VA senior executive service managers from receiving bonuses."

"We can't throw money at the problem all the time, OK?" Bilirakis added. "It won't go away just doing that. We need real and meaningful reforms at the VA."