[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
United States News Title: White House: Plan for economic relief in the works President Barack Obama, on a three-day bus tour in the Midwest, arrives for a town hall meeting in Atkinson, Ill., on Wednesday. He has asked people to encourage their Congress members to work with him. Under fire in a nation desperate for jobs President Barack Obama will soon announce a package of tax cuts, construction work and help for the millions of Americans unemployed for months, a White House official said Wednesday. Republicans immediately cast doubt about any such plan, setting up a new economic showdown as the presidential campaign intensifies. Obama will unveil his economic strategy in a speech right after Labor Day, hoping to frame the jobs debate by pressuring Republicans in Congress to act or face voters' wrath. The country is in a deep state of disgust about Washington politics, increasing pressure on both parties to help the economy quickly -- or somehow position the other side to take the blame. To pay for his ideas on jobs, Obama will challenge the new debt committee in Congress to go beyond its goal of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, with part of the savings used to cover some of his economy-jolting help without sinking the nation deeper in debt. But there, too, Obama faces trouble from Republican members who have ruled out tax hikes. It's all leading to a sharp campaign for public opinion, the outcome of which will shape the presidential and congressional elections in 2012. President's plan of action Obama, as the most visible target for voter ire, is seeking re-election with unemployment north of 9%. No incumbent in recent times has won a second term with the jobless rate anywhere near that high. The final details of Obama's new economic plan have not been decided. It is likely to include tax cuts to help the middle class, a build-up-America construction program that goes beyond any infrastructure proposal Obama has had already, and targeted help for the particularly worrisome group of people who have remained unemployed for many months in a row. The jobs package could include tens of billions of dollars to renovate thousands of dilapidated public schools and a tax break to encourage businesses to hire workers, according to people familiar with White House deliberations. In Illinois on Wednesday, Obama broadly outlined his plans to help the fragile economy and have the costs covered as part of a broad plan to reduce the deficit. He pledged to present a specific way to do both to the committee of lawmakers assigned to come up with such a deficit-slicing plan before Thanksgiving. Previewing his line of argument, Obama has spent much of a three-day bus tour through the Midwest lobbying people to pressure their members of Congress to deal with him. "If you're delivering that message, it's a lot stronger than me delivering that message, because you're the folks, ultimately, that put those members of Congress into office. All right?" Obama said at a town hall in northwest Illinois. He faced a supportive but restless audience eager for its government to deliver on jobs, aid for people in need and protection of Social Security. Republican: 'Too little, too late' Republicans were underwhelmed by news of another speech, jobs package and deficit plan from the president. On the campaign trail, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney needled Obama. "Too little, too late," he said from the key primary state of New Hampshire. "But we appreciate the fact that he's going to devote some time to it -- not just going to be on the bus tour, not just going to be vacationing in Martha's Vineyard." From Congress, Republican House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the Democrats are the ones who have sat on GOP jobs bills in the Senate. Boehner said the burden was on Obama to offer the country new proposals that "allow us to find common ground." Pressure from all sides From the liberal flank of Obama's own Democratic party, the advocacy group MoveOn.org asked its members to phone the White House and pressure the president not to "placate" Republicans who are being pressed by the tea party. "He needs to start listening to the vast majority of the American people who say job creation is the No. 1 priority, and the rich and corporations should be taxed more, not less," the group's e-mail said. Obama, too, wants to tax the wealthy more. But he settled for a deal with Congress this month that trimmed the debt without any new revenues, just spending cuts. Obama is trying again, by working to influence the new debt committee. "You've got to have everything on the table," Obama said Wednesday, meaning taxes and popular health programs. But he has little say over whether Congress goes that route.
Poster Comment: Summer of Recovery! Coming to a Winter near You.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 7.
#1. To: socalv8 (#0)
America has been waiting for it ..... finally! After two FUCKING YEARS?
You are one Canadian Luxury campaign bus trip away from further stimuli! Change!
There are no replies to Comment # 7. End Trace Mode for Comment # 7.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|