Obama wants quick clearance to $447-bn jobs plan

The US President Barack Obama has asked the lawmakers to pass immediately the $447-billion proposal to create jobs and revive the economy.

In an address to the joint session of the Congress, Obama said, "The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working."

"It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed. It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business," Obama said in an impassionate appeal to the US Congress.

He said the plan will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products.

"You should pass this jobs plan right away," Obama said.

"Pass this jobs

bill, and starting tomorrow, small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or raise workers' wages. Pass this jobs bill, and all small business owners will also see their payroll taxes cut in half next year," Obama said in his speech, during which he received standing ovation from the lawmakers several times.

Obama, who had to push his joint address to the US Congress by a day because the Republican-majority House could not agree on the date, urged the Congressmen to "stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy" by quickly approving the $447 billion package of measures so he can sign it into law.

He said that the Jobs Act answers the urgent need to create jobs right away.

"We now live in a world where technology has made it possible for companies to take their business anywhere. If we want them to start here and stay here and hire here, we have to be able to out-build, out-educate, and out-innovate every other country on Earth," Obama said.

Image: US President Barack Obama