Obama calls on Congress to pass jobs plan 'right away'

Amid growing signs that the U.S. economic recovery has stalled, President Barack Obama delivered a major speech before a joint session of Congress Thursday night, outlining a $450-billion proposal to ease unemployment and "improve people's lives."

The nationally televised speech came at a pivotal time both for President Obama, who is closing in on an election year with a badly flagging approval rating, and for the U.S. economy, which has been struggling to fend off a double-dip recession.

"I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away," Obama said.

"There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats and Republicans," he said. "And everything in this bill will be paid for."

The American Jobs Act proposes spending nearly US$450 billion on a range of initiatives -- including deeper payroll tax cuts and funding for infrastructure projects -- designed to deflate the ranks of the unemployed.

Many of the ideas in the proposed legislation were widely anticipated, including new spending for public schools and reforming unemployment insurance.

But the scale of Obama's estimated $447 billion jobs plan is considerably larger than the $300 billion many pundits had predicted, nudging the price tag for the American Jobs Act closer to the nearly $800 billion stimulus package passed in 2009.

On infrastructure spending, he said that creating a world-class transportation system would help create jobs. On schools, he said his jobs plan would put thousands of teachers back to work, prevent many others from being laid off, and help modernize the country's classrooms.

Thursday's speech may be one of Obama's last attempts to kick start the country's troubled economy -- and to boost his own low popularity rating -- before voters decide who they will support in the next presidential election, which is just 14 months away.

Obama began his presidency in the midst of a recession that drained a whopping 7.5 million jobs from the U.S. economy.

No incumbent U.S. president in recent history has been re-elected with the economy suffering from unemployment levels anywhere close to the current rate of 9.1. per cent.

Several recent indicators have suggested that the country's economic recovery may be faltering. Making matters worse, Standard & Poor's downgraded the American debt rating from AAA to AA+ this summer.

The S&P downgrade followed weeks of rancorous negotiation between Republicans and Democrats on how to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a potential default. A deal was finally struck at the end of July.

Courting support

For Obama's jobs plan to become a reality, however, it will require the support of both independents and Republican lawmakers -- something that the president alluded to repeatedly during his address before Congress.

"The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy," Obama said to applause.

"Pass this jobs bill, and we can put people to work rebuilding America."

Despite the high price tag of the jobs proposals Obama said they would not add to the federal deficit.

Instead, they will be paid for by "releasing a more ambitious deficit plan… that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run," he said.

Obama would also cover the costs, he said, by targeting Medicare and Medicaid, closing tax loopholes for oil companies and eliminating tax breaks for the rich.

In his words, the tax code is a "monument to special interest influence in Washington," and reforming it would mean that lawmakers would have room to reduce corporate tax rates.

But the thrust of his speech was aimed at workers.

"Some of them are living week to week, paycheque to paycheque, even day to day," he said. "They need help, and they need it now."

Experts weigh in

Millan Mulrain, TD Securities' senior U.S. strategist, said the new jobs plan "comes at a pivotal moment not only for the president's reelection hopes, but more importantly for the economy."

The recovery in the American economy has "more or less run out of steam," he told CTV News Channel earlier on Thursday.

"The big question for me is whether or not these policies will be enacted, and the extent of their effectiveness -- but something needs to be done."

South of the border, political analyst Stephen Farnsworth said Obama's speech was an example "of why he is one of the best speakers in politics today.

"He gave the public a clear idea of where he wants to go in the next year and a half. Now we'll see how much if anything the Republicans are willing to go along with."

Near the end of the speech, Obama appealed to voters to pressure lawmakers to adopt the bill. Whether or not the public heeds that call may determine if the legislation ever sees the light of day, Farnsworth said.

"The question going forward is, will Obama be able to get those people re-engaged and re-excited -- not only for the economic issues that are on the table right now, but also quite frankly for what is likely going to be a very tough political campaign to come?"

With files from The Associated Press