Obama to Roll Out $50 Billion Jobs Proposal

September 8, 2010 RSS Feed Print

BY Kenneth R. Bazinet
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - President Obama rolls out a proposal Wednesday to create a $50 billion jobs bill and a permanent business tax credit for research and experimentation as he scrambles to reverse Democrats' sinking popularity in the polls.

The tax credit, along with a proposed $50 billion public works jobs bill and a likely business-payroll tax holiday, are among several election-season schemes Obama aides are floating. The White House is desperately searching for a way to generate some political momentum and fend off a tsunami in the November midterm elections.

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"This is about how do we get our economy fully back on track, how do we get the millions that want to work back to work, and how do we repair the economic damage that's been going on not just over the past two years but over the past 10 years," said spokesman Robert Gibbs. "We didn't get into this overnight, as I've said countless times."

Obama's political headaches deepened, meanwhile, as his former budget director, Peter Orszag, said he opposes letting Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy expire, and transition director John Podesta predicted "soul-searching" and significant changes at the White House postelection.

The President will make his second economy-driven speech of the week Wednesday in the Cleveland area, focusing on his new jobs bill and tax incentives to help spur hiring.

But the economy-related agenda offensive may not be enough to keep Democrats from being crushed by a GOP election tidal wave.

Two polls released yesterday signaled time may be running out for Obama to save the House and Senate from a GOP takeover.

The GOP had a 53%-to-40% advantage over Democrats in upcoming generic congressional races, the largest gap in that poll since 1981, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. Republicans maintained a 49%-40% lead in a similar NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

A whopping 61% of respondents in the latest NBC/Journal poll believe the country is on the wrong track, and only 39% approve of Obama's handling of the economy.

The ABC News poll showed a similar decline in support for Obama, the Democrats and their stewardship of the lackluster economy.

"There is and continues to be great frustration with where we are in this economy. Among those frustrated is the President of the United States," Gibbs said.

"I'll be honest with you. I think the American people are not concerned about the President's poll numbers. I think the American people are concerned about whether or not they have a job, how they're going to pay their bills, the future of their children," Gibbs added.

 

Tags:
unemployment,
New York Daily News,
2010 election,
Congress,
democratic party,
Barack Obama,
republican party

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There is no question that job stimulus is needed. Millions of America's unemployed workers want and need to return to working jobs just as they were doing before their life was abruptly disrupted by layoff and the shock of not being able to find work. But, it seems that almost all of this job creation proposal relates to manual labor and very little that could benefit many of the long-term unemployed, many of whom are women who are over the age of 50. Road construction jobs and working on the railroad will not get these hard hit workers who are accustomed to performing office tasks back to work. There seems to be nothing geared towards aiding this large group in finding job reinstatement. I would like to see serious incentives for business owners - incentives that would make it near impossible to choose using profits or tax breaks to reward CEO's with large raises instead of reinstating the hundreds of thousands of lost office jobs. How about no tax breaks for any business who does not reinstate (and retain for no less than 1 years) 10-20% of the positions cut by their firm? Or what about a sliding scale of tax breaks - larger breaks for greater percentages of jobs reinstated. People forget that this is not about creating jobs that were never there - this is about reinstating jobs that have existed for decades. There are simple ways to accomplish this but political resentment must be set aside for the good of the country. Without a commitment on the part of all politicians to act in a cooperative manner in the best interest of the citizens of the United States of America I don't see how it is possible for any President or political party to succeed in any policy for economic recovery. Now is a time for unity and our political leaders - particularly Republicans who have become so engrossed in a selfish "me" agenda have come to blame and punish the unemployed for this recession and forgotten the need to repair the economy. They have forgotten that united we stand, divided we fall. A nation divided by political civil war - Republican vs Democrat - will surely cause our nation to fall into depression. That is the only economic certainty in these times - If politicians cannot cooperate for the good of the nation they will cause another Great Depression.

Deborah Brown of ME 11:59PM September 13, 2010

STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY AND PAYING OFF YOU UNION BUDDIES

JUSTIN of IA 8:13PM September 08, 2010

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