Obama pushes jobs measure

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he’s going to travel the country telling lawmakers to do their jobs and vote in favor of his economic proposals, and he says congressional Republicans should stop picking partisan fights and act.

“Next week, I’m urging members of Congress to vote on putting hundreds of thousands of teachers back in the classroom, cops back on the streets and firefighters back on the job,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.

“And if they vote ‘no’ on that, they’ll have to tell you why,” he said. “They’ll have to tell you why teachers in your community don’t deserve a paycheck again. They’ll have to tell your kids why they don’t deserve to have their teacher back. They’ll have to tell you why they’re against common-sense proposals that would help families and strengthen our communities right now.”

Republicans used their weekly address to criticize Obama’s proposals while saying that they want to work with the president to create jobs, just without “more Washington spending and taxes.”

“The president needs to get off the sidelines and get involved,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

He said the president should support legislation passed by the Republican-led House, including bills to roll back regulations.

“In the spirit of working together on jobs, I urge the president to call on leaders in his party to follow the House, listen to the American people, stop pushing ideas we know won’t work and pass these jobs bills,” McCarthy said.