Mr. Obama also urged Congress to approve trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. That was one of the few times in the speech when Republicans stood and cheered. Most Democrats stayed seated.
Mr. Obama said some lawmakers might feel that differences can be settled only by voters at the ballot box. But he said Americans who are struggling financially need a Congress that will act now.
BARACK OBAMA: "Know this: the next election is fourteen months away. And the people who sent us here -- the people who hired us to work for them -- they don’t have the luxury of waiting fourteen months."
Opinion polls show that most Americans have lost hope that politicians can bring down the high unemployment rate. Currently the national rate is 9.1 percent.
And there are concerns about the possibility of another recession, and not just in the United States. This week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned of slowing growth in many leading economies.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
Contributing: Mil Arcega, Lisa Bryant, Dan Robinson and Cindy Saine
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25