President Obama will hit the road Monday for a three-day bus tour, starting in North Carolina to push for passage of individual pieces of the American Jobs Act after it failed to pass in the Senate last week.
Politico did a great job in providing a political guide for the trip, noting that "the trip's itinerary suggests nothing so much as his 2012 game plan plotted onto a map of the Upper South and with the American Jobs Act, which polls well among all but the most conservative voters, as a selling point."
The Washington Post said the White House "emphasizes that this is strictly an official trip, paid for by the government and focusing on the president's jobs plan and not campaign politics..."
"You Lie" moment during President Obama's address to nation came from Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) holding up sign saying "DRILLING = JOBS."
Lawmakers being disrespectful to President Obama, that's a common occurrence coming from the Republicans towards the president. We just couldn't watch a speech without a lawmaker being rude. Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) held up a sign that read: DRILLING = JOBS as the president spoke. Of course, he didn't yell this out, like his colleague Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-SC) "You lie!" outburst, but this is disrespectful and unprecedented. Landry held the sign up when Obama acknowledged that Republicans might have ideas different from his $447 billion American Jobs package.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) found something to laugh about when President Obama said, “We’ve identified over 500 [regulatory] reforms, which will save billions of dollars.” Not only was far worst than the Joe Wilson "You lie" outburst because it shows how irrelevant the Republicans see the first black president. Some Democrats were also cool towards the president. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) was seen reading a newspaper & Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was seen staring at the ceiling.
President Obama pushes ambitious $447 billion jobs plan, but why did we have to wait 961 days to hear this plan, just 424 days shy of the next general elections?
President Obama delivered a "tough" speech and that's the kind of fighting spirit we needed to see in the president. While I may not agree with everything he's proposing, I do agree that unemployed and underemployed Americans cannot afford to wait "14 months for the elections" for a solution. Yeah, I'm going to say it, why did it take 961 days for him to realize we needed an intervention? If you ask me, both he and the Congress have largely ignored the people on Main Street until an election comes a-calling -- 424 days until Nov. 6, 2012, to be exact. If this is so urgent, then I think the Martha's Vineyard vacation could have waited, don't you? Don't get me wrong, President Obama inherited a sh*t load of mess from the previous administration, but he was been weak and waffling on economic issues. While I am encouraged by some aspects of his "ambitious" plan, I am still skeptical we will ever see any of it come to fruition, specifically enough to have a significant effect on the plight of Main Street.
Key Elements to President Obama's Jobs Plan:
EMPLOYEE PAYROLL TAX HOLIDAY
Obama is proposing a $175 billion one-year extension and expansion of the employee payroll tax holiday that would halve the tax rate to 3.1 percent in 2012.
EMPLOYER PAYROLL TAX HOLIDAY
Obama is seeking $65 billion to encourage small businesses to hire more workers. This includes halving employer payroll taxes to 3.1 percent for the first $5 million of a company's wage bill in 2012, which the administration says will reach 98 percent of small businesses. He also wants a complete payroll tax holiday for increasing the size of the payroll by up to $50 million above the prior year, either by hiring new workers or raising the salaries of the existing labor force.
HOUSING
Obama wants to broaden homeowner access to mortgage refinancing and help the battered housing market by allowing households to take advantage of ultra-low borrowing costs that would help them put their finances on a sounder footing.
Administration officials say he hopes to push forward with a plan in the next few weeks. To hammer out a proposal, the Treasury Department is talking with U.S. mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and their regulator the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to figure out ways to broaden access for homeowners by removing barriers to refinancing.
EXTENDING 100 PERCENT COMPANY EXPENSING INTO 2012
At a cost of $5 billion, Obama wants to extend a 100 percent expensing tax break for companies, allowing them to immediately take a tax deduction for investment in new plant and equipment.
$85 BLN IN AID FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
-- $35 billion to keep teachers, firefighters and police officers in their jobs, of which $30 billion would go to schools and $5 billion to police and firefighters.
-- $30 billion to modernize schools and community colleges.
-- $15 billion to rehabilitate and refurbish vacant and foreclosed homes.
-- $5 billion to help low-income youths and adult workers, supporting summer and year-round jobs for young people and support subsidized work for unemployed low-income workers.
ROAD, RAIL AND AVIATION INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING
Obama seeks $50 billion to invest in highways, transit, rail and aviation, including upgrading U.S. airports and supporting Nextgen Air Traffic modernization.
INFRASTRUCTURE BANK
Obama wants $10 billion to capitalize an infrastructure bank to leverage private and public infrastructure investment "without earmarks or traditional influence," the White House says.
EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, BRIDGE TO WORK
-- $49 billion for a one-year extension of long-term unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire, which the White House says prevents 6 million jobless Americans from losing benefits. It includes reforms to the jobless aid system and a "bridge to work" program to help get unemployed people back to work.
-- $8 billion for tax credits for long-term unemployed. Source: Reuters
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL TEXT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH.
Michele Bachmann, may have figured out how to keep her name in the news -- she will deliver the rebuttal to President Obama's job plan speech. Since the Republican Party has no plans to offer a rebuttal of the president's speech, Bachmann stepped up to the plate. Well, we know she has an ulterior motive for voluntarily giving the rebuttal -- to keep her name relevant. Her presidential aspirations are as dead as disco.
According to The Hill, Bachmann's remarks are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. in a House television studio, but will be timed to follow Obama, who is expected to propose about $300 billion in measures to bolster hiring in what the administration has dubbed the "American Jobs Act."
