Obama lines up $300bn drive to create jobs

PRESIDENT Barack Obama, facing waning confidence among Americans in his economic stewardship, is planing some $300 billion (€213bn) in tax cuts and government spending as part of a job-creating package.

The price tag of the proposed package, to be announced by Obama in a nationally televised speech to Congress today, would be offset by other cuts that the president would outline, media outlets said, citing Democratic sources.

Bloomberg News said the plan would inject more than $300bn into the economy next year through tax cuts, spending on infrastructure, and aid to state and local governments.

Obama would offset those short-term costs by calling on Congress to raise tax revenues in a deficit-cutting proposal he will lay out next week, the news agency reported.

The White House declined to comment on the reports.

Obama’s aides have refused to go public with the estimated cost of Obama’s package or provide many specifics in advance, saying that the proposals will have a “quick and positive” impact on boosting jobs at a time of stubbornly high US unemployment.

“We need to do things that will have a direct impact in the short-term to grow the economy and create jobs, and the president will put forward proposals that will do just that,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Republicans criticised Obama for not including them in discussions on the package before his speech, and indicated any jobs bills could face tough passage through Congress, where they control the House of Representatives.

“I have no doubt the president will propose many things on Thursday that, when looked at individually, sound pretty good, or that he’ll call them all bipartisan. I’m equally certain that, taken as whole, they’ll represent more of the same failed approach,” said Senate Republican Mitch McConnell.

Republican House leaders separately wrote to Obama urging him to repeal “excessive, job-destroying regulations” and laying out possible areas of common ground, including reforms to the unemployment system and free-trade agreements.

Confidence in Obama’s management of the economy has been hit by months of bad economic news, and several polls this week showed fresh declines in his job approval ratings.

Obama hopes to start reversing this trend with his address to a joint session of Congress, in which he will try to convince voters that he has a better economic recovery plan than his Republican opponents.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama’s job approval rating at a low of 44%, while an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that six in 10 Americans rate the president’s job on the economy and jobs negatively.

Obama must reduce unemployment from its current level of above 9% to improve his chances of winning a second term in the White House in the November 2012 election.