Both issues are intended to telegraph a message about the inequality gap in the country, underlining differences with Republicans that the White House and Democrats think can be exploited in an election year.

“It’s a fight we’re happy to have,” said the White House official.

The official pointed to Obama’s address last month when he talked about the ever-expanding gap between the wealthy and the poor.

“I believe this is the defining challenge of our time,” Obama said in the December speech. “It drives everything I do in this office.”

The speech served as an outline of sorts for what the president’s agenda might look like in the next couple of years.

“You’ll hear a lot more of that in 2014,” the White House official said.