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WASHINGTON President Obama said Wednesday that Republicans were "not necessarily coldhearted" in their policies but then devoted much of his speech at the University of Michigan to lampooning GOP opposition to his views on economic issues, including his proposal to raise the federal minimum wage.

As Congress gears up for a debate on his proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Obama said lawmakers would have to decide between sticking with him or sticking it to working Americans.

"They've got to make a clear choice talk the talk about valuing hard work and families, or walk the walk and actually value hard-working families," Obama said. "You've got a choice. You can give America the shaft, or you can give it a raise."

The address in Ann Arbor featured Obama in a feisty mood, a day after he announced that 7.1 million people had signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, exceeding the administration's target.

Obama said that if Republicans tried to sell their economic plans at the deli where he had just ordered a Reuben, "they'd have to call it the Stinkburger or the Meanwich." And he said opponents to a minimum-wage increase complain it will primarily help young people, which he suggested was not much different than yelling, "Get off my lawn!"

The edgy message opened a new phase for Obama. With the rollout of his 2010 health law nearly complete, the president is now focusing on the congressional elections and on keeping the Senate in Democratic hands, a task his advisors think depends in part on his ability to draw a sharp contrast with the GOP's economic proposals.

For starters, Obama is leading off with the fight to raise the $7.25 minimum wage, an idea that polls have shown is favored by a strong majority of Americans.

But even as Obama used the minimum wage to highlight a difference with Republicans, Democrats on Capitol Hill are preparing for the politics of the issue to grow more complicated.

Democrats concede that they are unlikely to get enough support from Republicans to overcome a 60-vote procedural hurdle to advance the measure. But there is also some concern that an effort by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to support a smaller increase perhaps to $9 an hour could siphon off some Democratic support. Collins is the only Republican senator running for reelection this year in a state that Obama won in 2012.

A Collins aide said the senator has had discussions over the last three weeks with a number of Democrats about packaging a wage increase with other economic measures, including tax credits for small businesses.

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Obama, lampooning GOP, calls for hike in minimum wage