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President Barack Obama will travel to Syracuse this week as part of a two-day bus tour to lay out his plan for reducing college costs. The president also has plans to stop in Buffalo, Binghamton and northeastern Pennsylvania.Obama will explain his ideas for reducing the costs and improving the value of a college education. The upstate stops are part of his recent effort to refocus on economic issues ahead of looming fiscal fights with Congress.You can find all of WRVO's coverage here.

Maffei discusses upcoming presidential visit

Ryan Delaney
/
WRVO

President Obama will be inBuffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton next week to discuss his plan for reducing college costs, but Rep. Dan Maffei hopes the president makes a stop in Auburn, too.

Maffei wrote the president a letter in April inviting him to visit the town'sHarriet Tubman Home. Tubman, who freed hundreds of slaves through the underground Railroad, is buried in Auburn. Maffei is sponsoring legislation in the House of Representatives to make the home a national historical park.

"I'd love him to come down at some point and we've talked about that," Maffei said. "I've talked directly with the vice president, and I know they support our efforts and are interested in helping, but that's not what this particular trip will be about."

Maffei says Obama's upstate visit is part of his plan to refocus on the economy in preparation for fiscal talks with Congress.

"The program that he is outlining in a series of speeches is called "Better Bargain for the Middle Class," Maffei said. "My argument to the White House is where is there a better place where the middle-class truly needs a better bargain than central New York."

The president made some progress on that agenda last week when he signed a bipartisan bill to restore lower interest rates on student loans.