Obama To Announce $140 Million To Support Job Hubs In Chicago, Detroit

President Barack Obama planned to announce on Tuesday that two new manufacturing institutes aimed at creating quality jobs would be located in Chicago and Detroit and be supported by $140 million in federal funds, the White House said in a statement.

In an afternoon event, Obama will say that both of the institutes will be led by the Defense Department. The Detroit institute will focus on lightweight and modern metals manufacturing, while the Chicago-based hub will be based around digital manufacturing and design technologies.

Obama, whose calls Chicago his home town, is seeking ways to find jobs for middle-class Americans and raise their incomes. In the absence of a consensus in Congress on how to proceed, he is acting on his own where he can.

Part of that push is an effort to expand manufacturing jobs, many of which were lost in preceding decades as U.S. companies searched for cheaper labor abroad.

With a Republican-led House of Representatives focused on cutting