Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, agree on at least one thing: The economic status quo is not working.
But in their weekly addresses, the President and the freshman senator presented very different ideas on how to fix the problem - and what is causing it in the first place.
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Obama reiterated his push to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour - a push he highlighted in his State of the Union address and took on the road to Connecticut this past week.
"A clear majority of Americans support raising the minimum wage, because we believe that nobody who works full time should have to live in poverty," he said, adding, "Working Americans have struggled through stagnant wages for far too long."
Three recent polls show a majority of Americans support a $10.10 minimum wage: 63%, 72%, and 73%, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News, CBS News, and Pew Research Center surveys, respectively.
Obama blamed Republicans for standing in the way.
"The Republicans who do serve in Congress don’t want to vote on the minimum wage at all. Some even want to get rid of it completely. Seriously," he said.
Portman grasped onto the same idea of a struggling middle class and a gridlocked Washington that has not done enough to help.
"The wealthy are doing just fine in the Obama economy, but with paychecks down and the costs of healthcare, college education, and a tank of gas going up, this middle-class squeeze is strangling the American dream," he said. "Clearly, the policies coming out of Washington, D.C., haven't worked."
Instead of addressing the minimum wage, however, he proposed new policies, pointing to Senate Republicans' seven-step plan, "Jobs for America."
The program includes reforming a "complex and expensive" tax code, cutting back on regulations and red tape, repealing and replacing Obamacare, signing trade agreements with new partners around the world, and passing a balanced-budget amendment to rein in government spending.
He also channeled a Democrat to drive home the point.
"'A rising tide lifts all boats,' said John F. Kennedy. Let's enact these reforms. If we do, we'll see unemployment rates drop, we'll see incomes rise, and we'll see the gap between the rich and the poor close - not because we are bringing people down, but because we are bringing people up," he said.