Spokane7
60°
December 5, 2009 in Nation/World
Obama preps public for upcoming jobs plan
Speech Tuesday expected to outline ideas
President Barack Obama tours Allentown Metal Works in Allentown, Pa., on Friday.
(Full-size photo)
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Even as he heralded the first unemployment drop in months, President Barack Obama began putting the finishing touches Friday on a fresh job creation proposal he’s planning to send to Congress next week.
“I still consider one job lost one job too many,” Obama told a community college crowd in Allentown. “Good trends don’t pay the rent.”
The president plans to outline his list of ideas for a new jobs bill in a speech from Washington on Tuesday. Among the plans he’s likely to endorse is an expansion of a program that gives people cash incentives to fix up their homes with energy-saving materials, senior administration officials said.
Obama also is leaning toward new incentives, either through the tax code or some other means, for small businesses that hire new workers and toward new spending for building roads, bridges and other infrastructure, said the officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the package, and Obama’s speech, are still being crafted and could change.
The president also is open to a federal infusion of money to cash-strapped state and local governments, considered among the quickest and most effective – though expensive – ways to stem layoffs. Officials stressed that Obama probably won’t mention in his speech every job-stimulating idea he will eventually support.
“We need to grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can,” Obama said Friday at Lehigh Carbon Community College. “On Tuesday, I’m going to speak in greater detail about the ideas I’ll be sending to Congress to help jump-start private sector hiring and get Americans back to work.”
Democrats on Capitol Hill have been pushing for a jobs bill for weeks and are pleased that Obama is getting on the same page. Under pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the White House and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are now signaling that tapping unused Wall Street bailout funds to pay for a jobs measure is OK.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Obama honors Medal of Freedom recipients as heroes 
liarsinnews on December 05 at 7:58 a.m.
Obama says he is “NOW” going to talk to congress about creating jobs. What the hell was the stimulus money for that he`s been giving to the crooked bankers on Wall Street who are again receiving big bonus checks with taxpayer money? As 2009 winds down, the job market is much worse than he predicted with his 8% BS and is in the double digits. As the head of auto motive G (government)M`s he wants a freeze on closing auto dealerships. I guess he figures, if he does not allow efficiency’s in the auto industries by keeping debt laden dealers to operate, the unemployment numbers will not dwindle. Why does drunken sailor come to mind??
lewis8457 on December 05 at 8:16 a.m.
he really does not know what he is doing, no one in his cabinet has run anything bugger then a lemonade stand.
throwing money at the states does nothing but assure the union state, city, county employees keep their jobs and might get a raise while private sector flounders.
now with the health bill looming we will see more small businesses close their doors adding to the high unemployment rate.
rshroll on December 05 at 10:28 a.m.
Please remember that the economic meltdown belongs to Bush (with large elements of responsibility also going to Reagan and Clinton). Remember prior to the last presidential election it was common knowledge the next president was basically in a horrible situation. Things were so bad it could have been worse than the first great depression. The bailouts to the banks was also Bush’s idea. Now that Obama has given bailout recipient banks rules for not giving out huge bonus money, these banks are quickly paying back their bailout money so they can get back to their crazy practices. This goes to show they didn’t need the money in the first place. Why would anyone think this economic mess could have been fixed in one year? The economy is going in the right direction finally (GDP, stock market, job loss, etc). Unemployment is a lagging indicator. It will slowly, but surely improve as well with the continued path. We can’t really afford this mess in Afghanistan either, but we have to shore up the horrible mess that was started at least somewhat so we can get out.
lewis8457 on December 05 at 3:17 p.m.
It is laughable how the Obama supporters still want us to hang all this current stuff on Bush. Granted he was not the best we have had but he is not in office now. And if my memory serves me right Obama gave the banks 750 billion too or was that bush dressed up to look like Obama? We have this recession looming over our heads while we send more solders abroad. Now the health care bill looks like it will be passed and after that the cap and trade bill that will triple out energy costs. Any trouble shooter worth his salt will tell you do not fix a whole bunch of stuff at once you fix one thing at a time.
So I know we need to blame this on someone but I cant help but think the guy in office now must have something to do with this new stuff coming at us like sending more troops to Afghanistan, health bill, and cap and trade bill. Or can that all be blamed on Bush too………I think not.
rshroll on December 06 at 10:50 a.m.
Sending the troops to Afghanistan’s a bad idea. Not getting rid of Bernanke’s a bad idea. Not being stronger with congress on health care a bad idea (not taking a stronger stance on the things that will hold down costs). Not taking “them” to task on Iraq. Our trade policies are bad. Clinton’s nafta sucks. President Obama is not living up to candidate Obama. But…the horrible economy is mainly Bush’s fault, like I said above. Period. With all these things I think Obama is doing wrong, it is still a million times better than Bush or any right wing alternative (unless, of course you are a huge corporation, then you basically have to go right wing, hard to argue with those kinds of $$, unless you really, really care about the middle class).