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September 8, 2011 in Nation/World
Obama looks to create jobs, put GOP on the spot
WASHINGTON — Facing a frustrated public and a skeptical Congress, President Barack Obama will pitch at least $300 billion in jobs proposals aimed at getting Americans back to work quickly and forcing Republicans to take a share of the responsibility for solving the country’s economic woes.
The underlying political strategy: If Obama can’t get his ideas passed heading into his re-election year, he at least hopes to show why he shouldn’t take the fall.
In a rare speech tonight to a joint session of Congress, Obama is likely to offer a package of ideas that would affect people in their daily lives — tax relief, unemployment insurance, spending to support construction jobs, aid to states to keep people in their jobs. Businesses would get their own tax breaks. And he will promise a long-term plan to pay for it all.
Yet all of it ultimately will depend on a Republican-controlled House that has a different economic approach and no political incentive to help a Democrat seeking a second term.
White House officials said Obama would formally send his plan — coined by the administration as the American Jobs Act — to Congress next week.
Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, urged Republican lawmakers to abandon their politically driven refusal to work with Obama and take action on his jobs proposal. Daley declined to provide details of the president’s jobs proposal, saying only that it would help teachers, construction workers, first responders and small businesses, and that many of the ideas have been supported by Republicans in the past.
“The only reason some of these people may not support it now is because of the politics that’s going on, which is again unfortunate for the American people,” Daley said.
He said the jobs programs would be paid for without borrowed money.
Obama is expected to propose paying for some of his jobs initiatives by closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing taxes on wealthier Americans, measures he failed to win during summer negotiations over increasing the nation’s debt ceiling. Offsetting some cost of his economic plan with new tax revenue is likely to meet stiff resistance from Republicans, but the White House has argued that the public has supported a mix of spending cuts and revenue as a way to avoid higher deficits.
Daley said wealthy Americans “ought to pay a little more.”
Obama’s goal is also to put Republicans on the spot to act — in their face, and in their chamber. Obama is expected to speak for up to 45 minutes, beginning at 4 p.m. PDT.
Given the country’s political and economic reality, two key questions hang over the president’s speech: Will any of his ideas get approved, and will they actually work?
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he was hopeful that there would be some proposals the White House and Republicans could agree on.
“We know the two parties aren’t going to agree on everything, but the American people want us to find common ground and I’m going to be looking for it,” Boehner said.
But some other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were criticizing the planned proposals even before the president had uttered a word. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Obama seemed determined to simply reintroduce economic policies that haven’t worked.
“It’s time the president start thinking less about how to describe his policies differently and more time thinking about devising new policies,” McConnell said.
A Pew Research poll out this week also found majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents skeptical that the proposals Obama is expected to discuss would do a lot to create jobs. And a series of new polls by major news organizations finds that the mood is downright dismal about the direction of the country, with Obama’s standing and approval on the economy at or near the lowest levels of his presidency.
Yet voters are holding all leaders accountable, supporting the White House’s point that Congress is under pressure to act, too. An Associated Press-GfK poll found that more people assign chief blame for the economy to former President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans and Democrats than to Obama.
Democrats familiar with the president’s plans say the White House sees the speech as a pivot point after spending the spring and summer focused on negotiations over deficit spending. They say the fall offers the president a window to press congressional Republicans to act on his economic plan — and if they don’t, Obama will spend 2012 running against them as obstructionists. Whether that’s enough to win over voters is another matter.
Obama’s chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, said the president won’t start with ideas that have been “preapproved” by Republicans in Congress.
“Ultimately, the test for any of these ideas: Are they right? Can they help the economy? Can they help get people back to work?” Axelrod told The Associated Press.
The president’s plan to pay for his ideas is a political necessity in a time of fiscal austerity. Deficit-boosting stimulus spending is out. But here, too, he is banking on a lot of help.
Obama plans to cover the cost by asking a new congressional supercommittee debt panel to go beyond its target of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by the end of November, so the extra savings can pay for short-term economic help. That debt panel met for the first time Thursday.
In one upbeat sign for those looking for a Washington compromise, Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor have told Obama they see potential areas of agreement on jobs — for example, infrastructure, which Obama has pushed repeatedly. Cantor also signaled to reporters Wednesday that he might support a payroll tax cut.
“It is not games and politics for people out across this country. It’s real,” Cantor said about the state of the economic debate. “The fact that we have had such sustained joblessness in this country, the fact that people are doing anything they can in many instances just to stay afloat and to pay the bills, it’s real.”
At the heart of Obama’s plan will be extending, by one more year, a payroll tax cut for workers that went into effect this year. The president wants the payroll tax, which raises money for Social Security, to stay at 4.2 percent rather than kick back up to 6.2 percent. That tax applies to earnings up to $106,800.
Obama is expected to seek continued unemployment aid for millions of people receiving extended benefits. That program, too, is set to expire at year’s end.
Since Obama took office in January 2009, nearly 2 million Americans have lost jobs. Almost 14 million people are out of work.
The unemployment rate, which stood at 5 percent at the start of the deep recession and 7.8 percent when Obama began in office, is at 9.1 percent. Most troubling is the trend line. After a period of steady if modest job creation, employers have stopped hiring.
© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
Shadedmuse on September 08 at 10:24 a.m.
I would like to see the President do something about companys that refuse to hire people because they have been out of work for over six monts to three years, if you are out of work for over three years companies will refuse to hire you. this is not fair and this explains why we still have unemployment over 9 percent where the number will not move.
force_vector on September 08 at 10:37 a.m.
A major school construction initiative? Really? That’s the big plan? Couple that with extending tax credits that haven’t spurred new hiring and you have to wonder if this is for real, or just a bad dream.
It’s time to try something new, rather than doing the same thing expecting a different result. A good start: Flat Tax + Ending both overseas wars and support for Libyan “rebels”.
DHF on September 08 at 10:43 a.m.
Obama made sure he took care of the fat cats on wall street and now he has come to the realization that the little people are needed to get reelected. It will probably be a bunch of mendacity coming out of the pie hole. Big promises and no delivery.
johnclarke on September 08 at 11:17 a.m.
DHF, I’m a little unclear on how Obama “took care” of the fat cats on Wall Street? I seem to remember that the TARP was actually the work of another guy. Obama’s administration bailed out the auto industry, stuff like that. Also, if you take a look at hiring and growth numbers, they actually did ok during the stimulus (for the little guy) and it’s only when that money ran out did numbers fall off - quite recently in fact. If the stimulus had not been a half baked effort (thanks GOP) we might be better off. There is no doubt that a massive stimulus is needed, and YES we will have to spend to accomplish it. This seems to escape the idiot GOP who oddly are convinced that spending cuts will actually help this problem. Really, how dumb can they get? Like the last 12 years of GOP fiscal policy apparently is not enough to convince them. Maybe they are trying to match the lost decade in Japan.
Shadedmuse on September 08 at 11:26 a.m.
Flat-tax NAtional sales tax are the biggest scams, they both will hurt the little guy.
the only option is to end the bush tax giveaway and make the rich and corperation start paying their fair share because they are just being PURE greedy and hoarding trillions of dollors and sitting on them.
misjustice on September 08 at 11:29 a.m.
Yesterday he wanted $300 billion and today he wants $400 billion. When does the spending stop and when does he start to address the run away debt HE, and he alone, has created??
Charlie on September 08 at 11:43 a.m.
January 2009, he said jobs, jobs, jobs. Still waiting!
Shadedmuse on September 08 at 12:03 p.m.
justmeagain
your delisional and need to take your meds, please come to the nurses station.
BUSH_CHENEY ARE 100 percent responsble for Creating the Debt with their tax-giveaway for the rich and corperations and their wars of agression and runaway bloated defense spending and government giveaways for their cronie corperate hacks like Haliburton and Blackwater.
Scoutster on September 08 at 12:17 p.m.
More stimulus. Now.
Or, Tea Party penury.
DickAdams on September 08 at 12:18 p.m.
I`ll repeat another post of mine today. If you come home from work and the sewer is backed up to the ceiling, do you shovel the stinkin stuff or do you raise the ceiling? Your choice. Obviously, Obama shall raise the ceiling once again asking for a modest $300. billion. I suppose the peanut gallery will comment about the first taxpayer money squandered, to the tune of $775.billion, saying it was W`s fault. Their are a few posters that will never admit that the republicans have done a few things correctly. Both parties have.
BTW, even Obama admitted, he was wrong pandering to congress to spend the taxpayer money recklessly.
SMARTGUY on September 08 at 12:37 p.m.
I was wondering where all the republican supporters were today. Hiding in this string because they have nothing to say about Perry cutting the fire fighting budgets in Texas, and now asking for our tax dollars, and federal interference in the states business to put them out. Cowards
Hiker on September 08 at 12:53 p.m.
According to 7 of the top 9 studies, the stimulus worked. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/did-the-stimulus-work-a-review-of-the-nine-best-studies-on-the-subject/2011/08/16/gIQAThbibJ_blog.html
We need to rebuild America. We need to invest an additional $250 billion a year in infrastructure for 10 years to make the country competitive. We could pay for it with a combination of an increased gas tax; cutting out subsidies for oil companies, farmers, and ethanol; and reducing military spending.
Why don’t Republicans want to invest in America?
Coffee on September 08 at 1:02 p.m.
Would some one please tell me who is the little guy and how much money a year is he making?
liberal_in_right_wing_land on September 08 at 1:07 p.m.
Despite what you read on here, most people actually still blame Cheney/Bush for the economic problems we are still facing.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62038.html
Of course nothing will get passed because the republicans have failed to bring one jobs bill to the floor to be voted on and have no desire to start now. But hey, at least they are trying to de-fund Planned Parenthood and NPR. Yes, because that creates jobs. And this week the republicans thought naming Post Offices was more important than bringing a jobs bill to the floor to debate on.
Where is the republicans job bill? They are the ones in control of the part of congress that actually writes the bills, yet they have failed to bring ONE jobs bills to the floor.
You republicans love to blame Obama for not creating jobs, yet he has. His auto bailout saved MILLIONS of jobs and his stimulus plan saved and created jobs (despite what the tea baggers claim).
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/09/did-the-stimulus-create-jobs/
I have made it known very clearly on here that I am no fan of Obama. If the election was held tomorrow I would probably not vote for him since he is clearly a republican (he’s the perfect Tea Party candidate except he’s black). However, the tea bagging idiots claiming he hasn’t done anything to create jobs are delusional, since your own party leaders who control the chamber that writes the bills has failed to bring just ONE jobs bill. Hypocrites.
Shadedmuse on September 08 at 1:13 p.m.
How do you explain Hermain Cain the CEO of a Banqrupt pizza chain he lost jobs, and Mitt Romneys company made its living by downsizing companies by eliminating jobs to make money both of these guys have a track record of cutting not creating jobs.
Obama is the only Canidate worth voting for who has his resume on the table, the others are jokes and clowns and morons worse then Bush.
johnclarke on September 08 at 1:23 p.m.
@Dick Adams
Their (sic) are a few posters that will never admit that the republicans have done a few things correctly.
If you could provide some examples, perhaps I would change my mind. Take all the time you need.
jddavis on September 08 at 2:34 p.m.
Hopefully some of that $300B will be spent to buy gloves, to go along with the shovels we bought.
Obama will have all of this fixed in no-time at all! All of you skeptics out there who think this will be more of the same, well, you’re right!
Hiker—simple question for you and your study reference:
—If the stimulus did work, as 7 of 9 studies indicate, why are still having high unemployment and why is Obama speaking tonight? Obviously, we are still very far off of where we should be, and where we were “promised” we would be.
Hiker on September 08 at 3:00 p.m.
jddavis: “If the stimulus did work, as 7 of 9 studies indicate, why are still having high unemployment and why is Obama speaking tonight?”
We still have a problem because the recession was actually much deeper than originally forecast. Government economists revised their recession calculations last month. The stimulus wasn’t big enough to fill the hole. But that doesn’t mean the stimulus didn’t have a significant, positive effect on employment and growth.
If you remember, the economy was in free fall before it passed. It was shedding jobs at the rate of 500,000-600,000 jobs a month. It’s not growing much now, but it’s also not crashing.
Now answer my question, why don’t Republicans want to invest in America? They’re fine with never ending defense spending in foreign countries, but don’t want to invest anything at home.
meadman on September 08 at 3:01 p.m.
well, the obvious answer is to work to ensure that Michele Bachmann is elected President. After all, she will guarantee that she can create 11 million new jobs in the first few months and gas will fall to $2.00 per gallon…. who could possibly be against that????? AND the number of gay people will drop to record levels as her hubby converts them by the thousands.
It is all so simple people!!!!
CougarGold on September 08 at 3:04 p.m.
“How do you explain Hermain Cain the CEO of a Banqrupt pizza chain he lost jobs…”
Herman Cain is largely credited for having saved Godfather’s from bankruptcy, not causing bankruptcy. I have no idea of how his employment numbers may have looked over time but Godfather’s never went bankrupt under his leadership.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/10/herman-cain/herman-cain-godfathers-pizza-turn-around/
WHS on September 08 at 3:19 p.m.
I just don’t understand you radical teabagger gop republicans! Seriously, our President hasn’t even given his speech and presented his ideas yet, and you all are already against it!
What a bunch of Maroons.
WHS
DHF on September 08 at 3:27 p.m.
All this stimulus money Tarps money, Bank bailout money.Auto bail out money. Why is the unemployment still going up. A short term fix that did not work. Bama is a Community Organizer and dosent know up from down about running a country. Where are the JOBS. North Dakota.
force_vector on September 08 at 3:39 p.m.
“President hasn’t even given his speech…”
Yeah, I believe he has. In fact, he’s done so numerous times. So please tell me how this one is going to be soooo much better than all the ones before it? Particularly given the fact that his “ideas” are the same ones he tried before, that failed.
“Maroons” do the same thing over and over expecting a different result each time.
WHS on September 08 at 3:50 p.m.
And there you have it… force_vector shows us the way of the idiocracy. He “believes” it, therefore, it must be true eh’…
Remember, all Dorothy had to do was click her heals three times… Maybe next time you should try that… has about as much credibility as your post.
“click click click” let the magic begin! I believe! I believe! I believe!
WHS
“All you have to do is Believe! click click click Vote Tea Party in 2012”
force_vector on September 08 at 4:02 p.m.
First “maroons”, then “idiocracy”. You are on a roll. Credibility, indeed.
jddavis on September 08 at 4:06 p.m.
Hiker—What do you mean by “invest in America”? Do you mean pay taxes, or invest in Stocks, or spend personal money, or continuing entitlement spended unabated? what?
Defense spending in foreign counties—do you mean foreign military aid, or perhaps the seemingly unending spending to have our military deployed around the world?
force_vector on September 08 at 4:10 p.m.
I’d suggest rather than focusing on Dorothy and a party that isn’t even on the ballot, you employ a little strategery and get yerself one of dem dere books that show you how to use English. Ya see, WHS, we have a sayin here in Idaho…”Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well, uh, well you aint gonna fool me again”.
Blondscence on September 08 at 4:23 p.m.
WHenever things are going bad for his election, he gives a speech!
Well, it must be time for a speech!! Hoorayyyyyy!!!!!!
WHS…the points of his speech were leaked this morning from the WHouse. A little trial balloon. The details comes next week when he doesn’t have to present it himself.
You will hear no details tonight. Just grand ideas with Obama’s grunting ooooooomph type emphasis.
I’ts not an economic jobs speech. It’s a “re-election” speech. I do see he’s threatening middle class families with a tax increase if they don’t force their congress people to pass his jobs bill. This should get him fired.
jddavis on September 08 at 4:32 p.m.
He glossed over extending UI benefits, saying that if we don’t extend them, our economy will be hurt.
Yea thats right! Extend a disincentive to work or our economy will be hurt! Certainly their are people whe need help, however, there are a lot just riding the system because collecting a check is easier than working for it. (I observed this countless times while working for the State).
johnclarke on September 08 at 4:56 p.m.
BlondeHawken !
Hawkscience !
Squid on September 08 at 5:01 p.m.
Hiring incentives to have a bunch of companies make products that no one will buy….. Because they are broke. You have to get people to spend their money. They won’t spend, unless they see blue sky. Tax increases are gray sky. Unemployment lines are gray sky. Increased cost of living is gray sky.
I can hire 100 guys tonight, but I have no customers.
force_vector on September 08 at 5:19 p.m.
Squid - Be careful making sense here. People will call you names.
Squid on September 08 at 6:03 p.m.
When they call you names or throw insults, that means you got them thinking and they ran out of facts and arguments. I take it as positive. Success… Victory…. Mission accomplished.
misjustice on September 08 at 6:10 p.m.
I’m savin’ what I’m makin’. Barely gettin’ by with my older Benz…AND my Louis Vuitton that is 3 years old. Harumph!!!! I’d like a new Benz and more Louis but can’t be sure that my high falutin’ job will last.
Oh, and as an indicator of how BAD things TRULY are, I am doing my own Manis AND Pedis…
Things are sooo uncertain!
What’s a girl to do?
: 0
Squid on September 08 at 6:44 p.m.
And then there’s those comedy routines. Those always make me laugh….. ‘Cept I have no idea what a Louis Vuitton is. Is that a dog or a midget? Whatever it is, I want one too.
misjustice on September 08 at 7:09 p.m.
Lol!
It’s designer leather mostly in the form of handbags/luggage…
status accessories for ladies and guys with discriminating taste!
Squid on September 08 at 7:15 p.m.
OK, I don’t want one then. My taste often causes discrimination.
misjustice on September 08 at 7:43 p.m.
I didn’t mean that kind! The way that I used it means picky…or selective.
Where’s my (bigger) tax cut?
Baby needs some new Louis!
: 0
Squid on September 08 at 8:01 p.m.
The way I used it means icky…or defective.
Would clash with my Trans Am, tractor, and pit bull.
No Louis.
misjustice on September 08 at 9:03 p.m.
I’m guessing here.
Mullet?
That goes with a Trans Am…as well as a Pit Bull. And a squaw.
: 0
Where’s my (bigger) tax cut?
Squid on September 08 at 9:30 p.m.
Used to was a sweet mullet, till my hair fell out. I combed it over and I have the Cousin It / Slash look. I left a tail in back, cause I know that look will eventually come back around. I gets more leg than a centipede!
misjustice on September 09 at 6:09 a.m.
Lol!
; )