President Obama Makes His Case for Jobs Plan

20 October 2011

President Obama signs the Korea Free Trade Agreement at the White House, Friday. Behind him, from left, are Andrew Liveris, chief of Dow Chemical, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Jim McNerney, chief executive officer of Boeing and Ron Kirk, U.S. Trade Representative. The administration says trade is important to creating more jobs.

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President Obama and his wife Michelle traveled to the states of North Carolina and Virginia this week. The Obamas were seeking support for the president’s four hundred forty-seven billion dollar jobs plan.

The American Jobs Act calls for cutting wage taxes on most businesses. It seeks to prevent public employees like teachers, police and firefighters from losing their jobs to budget cutting measures. And it calls for more federal spending on roads and transportation infrastructure to help create jobs.

Last week, the Senate blocked a vote on the full bill.

On Sunday, the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives said some parts of the bill are like those in a plan put forward by the Republican Party. Eric Cantor urged President Obama to find common ground with House Republicans.

ERIC CANTOR: "We want the president to work with us. We want him to stop campaigning. Let's go find the things that are in common between this plan and his."